Seeing Red
by Goat in the Sewer
Summary: A girl, Sam, clogs her toilet with her father's toothbrush and ends up meeting Mario, the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom. Together, the two must find a way back to his world while dealing with day-to-day life. ...Because being stuck with an Italian plumber that nobody else can physically see is soooo much fun. - CURRENTLY ON HIATUS -
1. Pipe Troubles

**4/23/19 - Starting today,** ** _Seeing Red_** **will be getting a rewrite. The plot, point of views, etc. are staying the same, so don't worry about that. However, I'm updating the fic so that it matches up with my current writing ability. That means that some minor details could be streamlined or cut for being unnecessary or awkward, and I'm going to pay more attention to my wording (e.g. if I used to word "door" too much, you _bet_ I'm going to look into cutting down on the use).**

 **Does that make sense? Perhaps it doesn't, but this is how my brain works when editing, so...**

 **Well, see you next time,**

 **GitS**

* * *

The water coming out of the toilet would not let up. It already reached my ankles and snaked out into the hallway. I shivered like mad as I stood amidst the chaos. In my left hand, I held a plunger, which had become utterly useless. Who knew why I still held on to it?

As I stood there, my cat, Tabitha, froze at the sight. She had been lounging on the laundry basket across from the sink when my father's toothbrush fell into the flushing toilet. She briefly studied the new pond my mistake created before backing against the wall.

If I were sane enough, I would've rushed off to call a plumber by now. But that… I wasn't that sort of person. Instead, my mouth fell agape. I just stared at the water, struggling to comprehend my own stupidity.

My father would've _killed_ me if he were here. Our house was about two decades old. With another thing here breaking down, this time by my own hands, he'd have to waste even more money getting it fixed.

A pencil dangling from my left ear threatened to join Father's wayward toothbrush in the toilet. My body refused to move with my racing mind.

Tabitha mewed as if to say, " _You screwed up. Game over._ " She then pounced from the laundry basket to the sink.

The flood had already risen another inch. I cringed as it stung my bare feet. At this point, I felt the need to scream. And so I did.

 _"GOD DAMN IT!"_

My anger rang through the house, making Tabitha flinch. The toilet wouldn't stop spitting at me in spite of this. The small, furry rug previously stationed outside our shower floated by me. At this rate, the bathroom was going to become an aquarium.

 _No_ , my rational mind snapped, _there must be a way to fix this. Machines always have an off button_.

 _Oh sure_ , the angrier part of me groused. _Where would this fabled off switch be?_

The water slushed against my knees. Was it just me or was it rising fast? Maybe I'd spent too much time standing here? Whatever the case, I couldn't linger here anymore. I needed to figure something out _now_.

"Mew," Tabitha squeaked. Having probably figured out how bad the situation had gotten, she crouched into the bowl of the sink.

I took a deep breath. Maybe I couldn't do a thing for the toilet, but the cat could definitely use some help.

I walked over to her. I slowly moved my arms under her belly before lifting her up.

The cat growled when her feet swung about and she found nothing solid underneath. She swiftly lurched down, sinking her teeth into my shoulder.

I gasped. A flash of pain flared up where she bit me.

Tabitha fell back into the sink. Her eyes narrowed. Her pure white claws revealed themselves.

I made another attempt to grab her.

This time she hissed and wriggled around. I held her as far away from my body as I could.

"Do you _want_ to get wet?" I asked her.

Obviously, cats don't speak English, so she continued to struggle. I set her down at the doorway.

"Get out of here," I said.

Tabitha didn't need any further prompting from me.

Once she had gone, I spun around. "Now, what am I supposed to do about this-"

I froze. While I dealt with the cat, something drastic had happened to the toilet. No longer did water flow from it, which was good news. But what I did find…

My breath got caught in my throat. I grasped the sides of the green object that suddenly popped into existence from the toilet.

"A _pipe_?!" I shouted.

That… That couldn't be right, could it? It looked exactly like those you'd see in a _Super Mario_ game.

I banged the pipe's side with a fist.

The pipe hollowly rang back.

There were plenty of people who wished that they were born anywhere but on Earth. I myself once wanted to fly through the skies on dragonback and dreamed of climbing mysterious mountains. In the end, though, it was all poorly-written fanfiction. I was forced to see that over the years.

So why this? Why now?

I'd recently turned eighteen. After twelve years of school, I now had to worry about a thousand things. Counselors at school constantly insisted that I either get a job or apply for college. I couldn't decide which path I would take. What if I couldn't stick to it? What if I dropped one, went for the other option, and hated it as well? I'd basically be screwed.

A cheesy smell emitted from the pipe. I wrinkled my nose.

This pipe _had_ to be a product of a dream. They didn't just _appear_ when somebody broke a toilet. Hell, if I had seen one a few years ago, you bet I would've left this damn life behind. Who wouldn't want to live in the Mushroom Kingdom alongside the likes of Mario, Luigi, and Peach? But at the same time, why give me false hope now?

Cold air blew from the pipe along with the cheese smell. I stuck my face deeper within it, only to find darkness. There was no telling where I could end up if I went down it.

Wind gusts ruffled my shirt. The water around me drained into the hallway, where the cat cried mournfully; maybe her fur got wet-

A blur shot out of the pipe. It hit me square in the face.

I stumbled backward, uttering a befuddled gurgle. Red swarmed my vision. Then, my body hit something solid, and my head with it. A nasty _smack_ reverberated through my skull.

Another chilly wind brushed by. A tremor raced down my body.

Tabitha continued crying from somewhere deeper within the house.

I slumped sideways, trembling. My body slid down into the water. The pencil on my ear dislodged from it and lightly stabbed me in the arm. My mind came to a foggy stop trying to comprehend the feeling. Adding to the pain was a headache, which flared up as I blinked.

The red had gone away. I saw the green pipe still lodged in the toilet. It stayed there as I stared, while everything else around me disappeared.


	2. The Hat

My eyes filled with white afterimages from the light bulbs overhead. My head buzzed from the knock it had received from the wall. I put my hand to it and sat up, violently shaking. I watched as two dozen streams of freezing toilet water flowed and dripped to the floor below.

My gaze then fell on the toilet. The green pipe was gone. The toilet, being a pristine white, showed no signs of it having ever been there. I couldn't find a _scratch_ on it.

How could have _that_ even happen? All I did was accidentally drop a toothbrush in it while it flushed, and... Well, maybe it was best that I didn't overthink it. The toilet had stopped overflowing. That was good enough for me, though that didn't mean it would work. I wasn't flushing it until somebody, _not_ me, tried it first.

I stood, using the closed laundry basket for support. Where did we keep the broom? The hallway closet? This mess needed to be cleaned up before Father got home.

Staggering into the hall, I found myself surrounded by numerous puddles. I marched through them, ignoring how my socks stuck to my feet.

I found a brown wooden broom surrounded by a dozen boxes when I opened the closet door. My father hadn't touched them in all the years we had lived here. From what I remember him telling me, they were all full of things from his childhood. I never really asked him about them or investigated myself, and still didn't as I snatched the broom and trekked back to the bathroom to begin the strenuous task of cleaning the floor.

How could I tell Father about this? If he knew what happened, he would definitely complain about having to waste money on a plumber.

I moved the broom slowly across the floor, watching it soak up water. Eventually, I picked it up and dumped it in the sink. Once I had squeezed as much water as I could out of the broom, I dropped it on the floor again.

This may be a stupid question, but was this even how someone used a broom? A maid we called every week or two usually did the cleaning, not me. In fact, I barely recall the last time Father made me do chores. It must've been years. Call me a spoiled brat, if you will...

While I carried on with my task, I couldn't help wondering what may have happened if I had gone into the pipe. Obviously, I would've been taken _somewhere_ if it worked like it did in Mario's games. But where, exactly, was a mystery.

I sighed as my mop met the wall. I missed my one chance for an adventure! I could have gone and, well, who knows what would have happened next.

My mop met the wall again. I lifted it up. I moved on. Rinse, repeat.

Maybe if I had been lucky, I would have met Princess Peach and she'd be kidnapped. Then the Bros would go rescue her, and I could've seen those two in action! After that-

The mop came to an abrupt stop, jolting me out of my trance. "Hm?" I lifted it up again.

Oh. It was the pencil I had worn on my ear earlier. I bent down to grab it. Before the bathroom fiasco, I had been completely focused on finishing my late essay for history class.

Thinking about that essay now, maybe I definitely should have gone down the pipe when I had the chance. School honestly sucked. I could use a break from it, even if it were a few weeks earlier than usual.

My gaze fell to the floor yet again. I moved the broom towards the wall again-

The broom slipped from my grasp. It made a small splash in the water.

I did a double-take where my pencil had been. The memory of the red flash played through my mind. Didn't it occur before I hit the wall?

I bent down, keeping my eyes on the object on the ground. First the pipe, and now I had found a red hat, complete with a red "M" at the front.

I sucked in my breath. The hat's fabric was rough under my fingers, much like denim. I rotated it so that the "M" directly faced me.

The pipe had been real. The hat felt real. What evidence would I need to prove otherwise?

It wasn't Luigi's hat, but… Well, being a tiny bit of a _Super Mario_ fan, I preferred the green, skinnier brother. Sure, he was a coward, but Luigi always came through in the end. Heck, his jumps were higher than Mario's, and yet they call _Mario_ "Jumpman". Luigi's voice is lower and more serious too. That's a thing I like in a person.

The, uh, seriousness, I mean.

Meanwhile, what did Mario have going for him? A cardboard personality. Smaller jumps that often sent me falling down bottomless pits. A high-pitched voice; the tone of a guy enjoying himself even as he was about to burn in a pool of lava for the one-millionth time. How could a guy be so upbeat when the princess got kidnapped on a regular basis and always ended up being in another castle?

Look, I don't actually hate Mario. I just felt that he never seemed to be a real character. The supposed star of his franchise almost always took a backseat while everyone else took the spotlight.

I turned towards the mirror, which rested above the toilet and sink. Rotating the hat around, I watched the "M" in the reflection.

 _It's big._

 _Of course it is. Mario has a big head. How do you expect the hat to fit?_

 _Meh._ I threw it on. A portion of red, the front of the hat, blocked the top of my vision. I pushed it back.

My hair complimented the hat despite it being a shade closer to Daisy's than Mario's. Strands curled around my ear and stopped right at my neck. I found it best to keep it short what with how long hair wasted time that I could allocate to literally anything else.

As much as I'd hate to say it, that time could go into writing that stupid essay. I had to get back to my room soon to finish it. And, you know, maybe I should wear red more often. It looked rather good on me.

And then I saw it. Something wrong with my face. Warmth. The small smile plastered on my mirror image.

My mouth and eyebrows curved downwards into a scowl.

The girl in the mirror copied me.

I glared at her as I tore the hat off.

She glared back.

Then the doorbell rang and tore us apart.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Father," I gasped, opening the front door.

The tall man on the porch held a brown briefcase in one hand and a bag of groceries in the other. His eyes lit up when he saw me standing there.

"Hey," he said. "Thanks for getting that for me." He walked into the house.

I shut the door behind him. "You're, uh, home early."

He set down his stuff. "All the major roads are closed. I should've checked the news this morning."

"You forgot that I was staying home today?"

"Yeah, yeah," he chuckled. "You haven't missed a day of school this year. I guess you inherited my immune system." He chuckled at this. "Would you mind putting the groceries away? I'm in need of a nice, long shower."

And the shower was in… The bathroom. Darn it! I knew I should have checked to see if the toilet worked first.

"I'll, uh, do that," I said.

"Thanks, Sammy." With that, Father walked off.

My breath got caught in my throat as he went around the corner to the bathroom—

"Why is the floor wet?"

I've said it before, so I'll say it again. _DARN IT_! I'd forgotten about the hallway too. "I, uh, took a shower earlier."

"Did you forget a towel?" he asked, peeking out from the behind the corner.

"Uh, yeah?"

"I'll wipe it up," Father said. He lifted his arm up in a shrug and returned behind the wall. "Make sure you remember next time."

"Okay!" I called after him, my voice gaining a suspiciously high-pitched tone.

I bit my lip to keep myself from cringing and snatched up the grocery bag. It was time to put this stuff away.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Our expansive kitchen didn't fit a family of two and a cat. Despite this, it was ours. On one end, as I almost walked into it, was the dinner table, which Tabitha sat on top of.

She and I exchanged glances.

I reached down to pat her on the head. "Hey."

She whimpered and shivered pitifully. Water dripped from her fur. Behind her was the overly-warm radiator.

"You'll be fine," I said, pulling my arm from behind my back. It held the Mario hat. "Would you mind if I left this here while I unpack?" I dropped it on the table and went across the room with the bag.

I went through the items. Milk went in the fridge, as did the container of butter. The pretzels, Father's favorite snack, belonged in the cabinet next to the stove. And finally, there was a box of pasta.

"Heck yeah," I muttered. Maybe we were having spaghetti tonight. It would be a change from the excess bread Father bought last week.

I worked on putting the groceries away. In the background, Tabitha licked herself. I heard her grunts all the way from the stove.

Speaking of the stove, the pretzels had to be put away. Unfortunately, I was short.

Why couldn't I have inherited Father's height? I could barely touch the middle shelf. Leaping up got me nowhere and I found it ridiculous to climb up to the shelves. What if Father walked in and saw me? Worse, I could not squish the pretzels in with about a dozen jars on the bottom shelf.

I came back to the table. All that way left was the pretzels. Maybe it would be best to let him figure it out.

I threw the pretzel bag on the table.

Tabitha stopped what she was doing. She lowered her leg and positioned herself to get a better look at the bag.

"That's not for you," I said. I reached behind her for the Mario hat.

I only felt the uncomfortably hard table behind her. I peered around the cat.

It wasn't there anymore.

"Tabitha, what did you do to the hat?" I asked, looking under the table.

I didn't see it on the ground either. Confused, I lifted my head.

That was when I saw red. The shelf pretty much blocked me from looking upwards.

I gasped and tore it off my head.

Tabitha and I traded glances.

I could've _sworn_ that I had taken it off. Hell, I remembered doing that. It was clear as day in my mind, even!

My hands shook. It would be stupid of me to think it'd come back to me on its own. Maybe I was having an episode of deja vu or wasn't paying full attention when I first came in here. Or maybe it'd been sitting on my head all along?

I lowered the hat back onto the table. Yeah, maybe it was one of those things. So I let go of it and turned around. The instant my eyes left the table, though, there was a sound like if Tabitha had knocked down the hat.

I whirled around at that moment.

The hat had disappeared once again.

Instead, I plucked it off my head. I then tossed the hat back and turned away again.

I waited for a moment to pass. As I did, I felt my hair shift ever so slightly. I grabbed at my head and tossed the red hat atop it back down.

I threw it down several more times. Each time, the hat would get a little more battered. This continued until it nearly flattened against the table.

I finally gave up after maybe the tenth attempt. I took it off again and looked right into the "M".

"Sam?" Father yelled. "Where's my toothbrush?"

I blinked. Snapping back to reality, I shouted back, "I have no idea!"

"I need it," he said.

Was he brushing his teeth in the shower again? I thought I told him to knock it off. I get sick of trying to take my own showers, only to step into a disgusting mixture of toothpaste and his own spit.

"Don't know," I said. "Sorry!"

He sighed. The bathroom door slammed shut.

I went back to the bag, but a thought hit me there. What if he found out about the whole toilet thing? Had he tried using it yet? Maybe it was best for me to run upstairs before he yelled at me.

I left Tabitha alone with Father's pretzels and went down the hall towards the front entrance. Across from it was a staircase that I made a turn on to. After making another turn up the steps, I reached my bedroom. Or, as I liked to call it, my safe haven.

I got inside and locked the door behind me. At least Father couldn't tell me to go to my room when I was already there.

I jogged over to my desk, which was across the room from me, and tossed both the Mario hat and the pencil from my ear down. As I pulled out my armchair, I kept my eyes trained on the hat. Just what was I supposed to do about this?

I turned on the lamp above my desk.

No matter what I did, the hat always came back to me. How was I supposed to get rid of it?

 _Is it cursed? Will I need an exorcist?_

Well, maybe if I did believe in such a thing as demons.

* * *

 _Is it cursed? Will I need an exorcist?_

The words echoed in his mind as he slowly woke up.

 _I can't even concentrate on this thing anymore! Why did I start talking about kettles?_

…What?

 _Maybe I'll go back and throw this entire thing out later,_ the mysterious voice said.

Going by the higher-pitched tone, maybe it belonged to a girl? That was his best guess.

But what was going on? Why did he feel weightless?

 _Stupid toothbrush,_ the girl's voice groused.

Toothbrush? What toothbrush? He couldn't see. Everything was dark.

The voice spoke again. _I wasn't paying attention for a second! How did this thing come back that quick?_

 _I'm not following,_ he thought. And he might have been able to catch on if he hadn't lost consciousness.

…

…

…


	3. A Rude Awakening

"I'm getting nowhere with this," I grumbled, tossing my pencil down on my desk.

Maybe it was time to give up on my essay. It was already several weeks late; our ancient Greece unit ended a while back. Hell, I could barely focus on it with this stupid red hat constantly falling over my eyes.

Speaking of the hat, I huffed and tossed it onto my desk.

"Stay," I hissed. But it was no use. I glared at dinner, which indeed had been spaghetti with marinara sauce, and there the hat was once again hovering over me.

I slammed the damn thing back on my desk. This _really_ couldn't be happening to me right now. I had school tomorrow. Dennis and his lackeys didn't need another thing to pick on me for.

I stared out into the street. Snow blanketed every inch of it, although the storm earlier this morning hadn't been all that bad. There was no doubt that the town would have it cleared by tomorrow morning.

The oddest idea came to me then. What if I kept the hat, but turned it around? In my opinion, it looked stupid; a backward hat was one of those old fashion trends from a decade or so ago. If this thing wasn't leaving me alone, though, I might as well try it.

I twisted the hat around and smirked to myself. This way, the hat wouldn't get in my way. How was I stupid enough not to see this solution until now?

I opened my eyes after that happy thought. The hat's shelf was there to greet me, hovering over my face.

"What the actual-"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

That was it. Because of this stupid hat, I barely got anywhere with my homework.

"Stay," I hissed, turning away from it.

So, what happened as soon as I tried closing my eyes? Feeling it there again, I heaved a heavy sigh and buried my face into my sheets. At this rate, it'd be best to forget about my perfect attendance record and not go to school tomorrow. …Or maybe I should burn the hat and the house along with it.

* * *

 _?_

"Mmmph? Mmmmmppph?"

 _Why couldn't I breathe_?! I moved around, trying to find the air, and-

"Mama mia!" I gasped, pulling my head outta a pillow.

Gulping at the air, I looked around. There was a single window in the dark room I was in. The curtains were shut. Barely any light came through it.

Where in the world was I? The last thing I had remembered was waking up briefly. Some kid had gone on a tangent about toothbrushes and kettles. At least I _think_ there was a kettle involved. I dunno; I was kinda asleep still.

Okay… So what about before that? I remember waking up in the morning, going downstairs for breakfast, and-

My brain hurt trying to think further. What happened afterward? Why couldn't I remember?

After a minute, I tore the blanket covering me off. Maybe it would all come later.

I walked over to this door nearby. As I reached for it, something felt _off_.

My hand went to my head. I felt around. It wasn't there.

I lowered my arm. Was it me having this brain fog or was my arm longer? There was that knob too. I needed one glance at it to know that I was taller. Usually, I was level with one!

My hand reached for my nose. Why was it tiny? And where'd my 'stache go?!

"What's going on?" As that came outta my mouth, I froze. Since when did my voice not naturally sound that high-pitched?

In my panic, I yelped. I flung myself forward.

Aaaaaaaand the door went crashing down the stairs. I cringed as it settled on the flight below.

"…Whoops."

So that happened, but it wasn't my number one concern right now. I ran down the steps and over it.

The entrance of the house was at the bottom. A light came in from the two glass panels at its sides. There were two hallways to my left and another three to my right.

I heard thumping and spun to my right.

A figure bolted from the hallway closest to the stairs. He came to a stop in front of me.

"Uh, hi?" I said.

The man towered over me. He had short brown hair and wore gray PJ bottoms along with a white t-shirt.

"Sam," he said, "what was that?"

Sam? That wasn't my name. That wasn't even close to it!

I held up one of my hands. I had long, skinny fingers instead of white gloves. Below that was- You know what? It'd be better if I didn't elaborate on that.

"Sam?" the man asked. He crossed his arms.

"Um…" How could I explain this? That door seemed pretty stable before I, er, attacked it. "It's broken?"

"Why exactly would you rip the damn thing off its hinges?"

"Damn". It had been years since I last heard that word. Heck, it was enough to make me pause for a moment. Guess it'd been a while since I last heard someone curse, even minorly.

"I… Panicked?" I said.

Behind the guy, another figure was moving. It made a noise like a "Meow" and laid on the floor by my "Dad's" feet. A cat, I guess?

"Dad" (Okay, now I'm weirded out) sighed. "You know what? It's the middle of the night. We'll deal with it tomorrow." He started down the hall he had come from. "Go to the bathroom to sort your priorities, then get back to bed. You have school tomorrow."

Once he disappeared around the corner, I heard, "Good night."

"Ni-night!" I called after him.

I was left standing there with the cat.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The bathroom was in the hallway to the top left. Once inside, I searched the walls for a switch and squinted up at the bright light bulbs hanging from the wall.

When my eyes adjusted to the light, I found out two things. One, I was definitely a girl, with short brown bedhead hair and blue pupils. And unlike when I went adventuring with Cappy, the kid had no 'stache. My hat also dangled over the top of her head.

Two, the room smelled a lot like cheese.

"That's not normal," I muttered, sitting on the closed basket. "Especially the cheese."

It's not every day that you randomly wake up in another body while not being able to remember stuff, thinking about your bro…

Hold on. What happened to Luigi? Where was he? Was he okay? Would he be okay?

No. I couldn't be panicking right now. Luigi was probably fine. He'd gone on adventures alone. He'd even saved me a few times! He could fill my shoes while I was wherever this place was.

Going back to me being a girl, there aren't many humans in the Mushroom Kingdom. There was only Peach, me, Luigi, Professor E. Gadd, Wario, and Waluigi. If anyone else came in, that'd be big news. Toads are excited by things like that. Other than when Bowser kidnaps the princess, that is. Maybe I'd somehow ended up in another kingdom, like Metro, maybe? They did have some suburbs.

In the meantime, I had to work with this girl's form. Cappy wasn't here to help me out. Who knows how long I could be stuck with it.

A digital clock ticking away by the sink read 12:30. Was it that late? Sam's dad mentioned school earlier. Guess that meant that she needed to go tomorrow.

...Oh no.

Okay, so I'm twenty-four. It'd been a few years since I've gone to school. My last time there _may_ have ended with me getting thrown out. It's not a subject I like talking about.

...It's bad when you can't draw a simple cube. Mine always come out wonky.

"Better not repeat that," I muttered, wrinkling my nose at the cheese smell. Then I shut off the bathroom lights and walked back down the hall.

So remember that cat from earlier? The furball decided it'd stalk me by sitting in the hallway. Maybe it had been hungry? I could relate; who doesn't love a midnight snack? But there was no way I'd feed it after it tripped me.

I yelped. I flung my arms out in front of me. My palms didn't find the floor first. My head did.

The cat yowled as I fell over it. When I finally settled on to the floor, I felt it shovel its way under me until it escaped from underneath one of my arms. It hissed at me.

Everything went dark.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The first thing I noticed when I woke up again were the whites of my hands. I sat up on my knees.

Wait a minute. Were my hands white? Like, white as snow?

Instead of being Sam's long and skinny, my hands were small and chubby. That white on them were gloves. Moving up from that, red sleeves. And over the red shirt, blue overalls. That meant-

"I'm back!" I shouted, fingering my 'stache. This was a miracle!

But as soon as I started celebrating, I stopped. If I was here, what happened to Sam? She wasn't here in the hallway-

Cue the gagging.

I perked up. Where was that coming from? The bathroom? It had to be. I remembered shutting the light off. Now it was back on.

I jogged back over there.

Sam hunched over the toilet, trembling violently. She tightly gripped its seat.

"Are you…?" I stopped myself. Who was I kidding? She wasn't okay!

I catapulted over the laundry basket, to her side, and—

 _Nope_! I spun away to avoid barfing myself.

There was a towel hanging on the wall. I shoved it into her hands.

"Use this when you're ready," I told her. "I'll flush."

"Th-thanks," she whimpered, taking the whole thing into her lap.

"Mh-hm!"

That cheese smell had been replaced by the smell of, how would I describe it, barf…? Wait, how would I know what barf smells like if everyone ate differently? Would it smell different depending on what came out? Or would it all smell-

You know what? I'll stop while I'm ahead.

"Get rid of it," Sam said. She buried her face in the towel. " _Please_."

I reached over her and groped for the handle.

 _Fwoosh!_

"There," I said, crouching down next to her. "It's gone."

That'd looked to be a lot. Where'd these people keep their plunger?

As if responding to my question, the toilet gurgled. Maybe it didn't need my help.

I returned my focus to Sam.

She breathed into the towel.

"Do you hav'ta do _that_ again?" I asked.

"Maybe, maybe not," she replied, her voice muffled by the towel. "I-I need a minute."

She took longer than that.

I ended up standing by her as I counted the seconds in my head. _Fifty-six_...

 _Fifty-seven..._

 _Fifty-eight..._

 _Fifty-nine..._

Four minutes later, Sam pulled back from the toilet. The towel fell into her lap. "There goes dinner," she sighed.

I smiled and shrugged. "Oh well," I said.

Her face flushed a bright red as she turned to face me. I noted how her pupils had turned brown.

I offered her my hand. "Want me to help you up?" I asked.

Sam stared between that and me. She recoiled.

I gave her a smile. Maybe she needed encouragement? Or should I leave? It wasn't every day a guy and girl were in a bathroom together. Maybe this weirded her out. Me too, now that I thought about it. Maybe I _should_ leave-

Sam spoke before I got the chance to. "You-You're..."

And I said, "It'sa me, Mario!"

Needless to say, she went back to puking in the toilet.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Remember," I whispered, "slow and steady."

"Ri-right," Sam said.

We stopped at the top of the steps leading to her room.

Sam sat down.

I cradled my hat in my arms as I plopped down beside her. Sam had worn it when we left the bathroom. No idea how she stole it without me noticing, but I got it back when she nearly fell over in the hallway.

"Feeling any better?" I asked.

"Meh," she replied. "I guess."

"'I guess'?"

She said nothing back.

I dug through my pockets. From there, I was pulling out all sorts of things. A pack of playing cards, a bottle of water, a ball of string, and even a pamphlet for the Metro Kingdom. "Huh," I said, "I forgot I was carrying all of this."

"How?"

I glanced back up at her. "How what?"

"How are you storing that all in there?" she asked.

"Enchanted pockets," I simply said before finally pulling what I needed out. "Oh, and here we go!"

Sam scooped the thing up from my hand. "A _mushroom_?" she muttered.

"Trust me, you'll feel better after eating it," I said, picking up the ball of string. Where'd that even come from?

Sam turned the mushroom over. We both glimpsed the pair of dots on its bottom half.

"Well, uh, I'll eat it, I guess?" she said. She lifted it to her mouth.

"Wait!" I shouted.

She paused. Her teeth barely grazed the top of the 'shroom. "What?" she asked.

I almost laughed at my random outburst. "You gotta eat the bottom first!"

"Why?"

"It tastes better."

Now she hesitated.

"Don't worry about the "eyes"," I told her. "Super mushrooms aren't sentient. They're grown that way."

"Huh."

I nodded.

"Well, here goes," she sighed.

Sam bit into the tannish part. Her face scrunched up as she chewed.

"How is it?" I asked, leaning closer to her. "Good?"

She swallowed and nodded. "It tastes really sweet," she said.

"That's how they normally are."

"To be honest, I prefer spicy foods."

"You'd like one-ups better," I said. "They're pretty spicy." I went back into my pockets, only to stop myself when I remembered, "Oh, right. Luigi's the one who always carries them. Maybe another time."

A few more bites later, Sam turned her head. Her jaw dropped.

My eyes widened. "That's…" I muttered, "A long story."

"You _broke_ it?" she cried.

"You see…"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Sam didn't like my explanation. At times, she glowered at me between 'shroom bites. Then we got to the part me possessing her.

"You _possessed_ me?!" she shouted.

"It wasn't my fault!" I protested. "I woke up that way. The cat tripping me was what separated us."

"You've invaded my privacy, possessed me, and now you're real," she said. "What's next? I wake up?"

"This isn't a dream," I said. "I'm alive." Was she gonna ask me to pinch her next?

Instead of that, she snorted. "This is a _pipe_ dream."

"Speaking of pipes," I said. "I don't actually work as a plumber much these days."

"So why do you still dress like that?" Sam asked, gesturing at my clothes.

"They're comfy and easy to wear."

She threw her arms into the air. "Okay, that was a _Pokémon_ reference," she shouted. "This has got to be a dream."

" _Pokémon_?" Like, poke-a-man? Poke-ye-mon? Did this thing involve poking at all? Where am I even going with this?

"You know, like Pikachu?" Sam said, frowning.

"Pikachu?"

"Do you know who Sonic the Hedgehog is?" she asked.

"Sonic? Is that another _Pokémon_?" Was I right in guessing they're creatures some sort?

"What about Link? Or Samus?" Seeing no response from me, she added, "Kirby? Hell, maybe Pit?"

"Are they _Pokémon_ too?"

She shoved her head in her hands.

"No, really," I said. "What's this _Pokémon_ thing?"

* * *

 _Sam_

I couldn't believe it! Mario, _Super Mario_ , didn't recognize the names of any of the other Nintendo heroes or, heck, even Sonic?

This had to be a dream, but my mind kept flickering back to his touch. That, and the mushroom, hat, and pipe. All of that felt too real for my liking.

"Jesus," I sighed.

Mario lifted an eyebrow. "Uh… What?" he said.

"This afternoon's been a complete mess," I groused. "You possessed me, this hat's attracted to my head," I took it off as I mentioned it, "the toilet exploded, and I haven't finished that stupid essay-"

He covered his mouth in an attempt to hold back laughter. It failed, and I cringed when his voice rang loud and clear through the house.

"It's a bit late for that," I hissed.

He giggled and nodded. "Could ya slow down?" he whispered back. "You're going a million miles an hour."

I lowered my head. He was right; I couldn't go crazy in front of the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom.

 _Sure_ , my mind spat. _You already puked in the toilet twice._

 _SHUT UP, ME_! I bit into my mushroom.

"You know, your dad said that you're going back to school tomorrow."

"Yeah?" I definitely had to back to bed soon.

"And your name's Sam?"

"Yep."

"Is that supposed to be short for Samantha?"

"No, it's Sam."

"Samantha's a pretty name."

"But it's not that," I said. "My parents didn't know I was a girl until they had me."

He silently watched me.

After swallowing the last of the mushroom's bottom half, I spoke up again. "What? They can't give me a gender-neutral name?"

The Marioverse had Birdo, who most people thought to be a girl. Couldn't it be the same for me?

"No," Mario said, "that's cool."

While I studied the top half of the mushroom, he asked another question. "Where are we? The Metro Kingdom?"

I was about to take another bite when he did. I withdrew the mushroom from my mouth,

He continued speaking. "No, you wouldn't be dressed that way if we were there. I swear, everyone's _always_ in formal attire over in ND."

I stayed quiet.

"Maybe we're in Sarasaland or the Mushroom Kingdom outskirts? Or Delfino?" Mario paused, his face scrunching up in thought. "...Nope. Doesn't feel like it."

"None of the above. Have you heard of America?"

His answer came as, "America?"

Wow. He was clueless. "You're not in your own world anymore, Mario."

He stared at me.

"You might be stuck here," I said. "Last I checked, we don't have an elaborate pipe system like back in your world."

"Couldn't I get home by plane or boat or something?"

I pushed my other hand into my face. _Idiot_. "What of "you aren't in your own world anymore" do you not understand? You might be _trapped_ here, dinglebrain. The Mushroom Kingdom nor Sarasaland are real, at least not in this world. We don't have mushrooms, giant evil turtles, pipes, and who knows what else there is back where you came from." Lifting my face, I finished with, "You're basically in what I like to call "Hell"."

Mario's mouth dropped open. "The mushroom worked pretty quickly if you're already getting excited," he said.

"Did you at all _hear_ me?" I huffed.

He muttered under his breath.

"Do you no comprendo?" I asked. "I don't speak Italian."

Before I could go on, Mario covered my mouth with a glove. His eyes moved away from mine.

My heart quickened as I followed them down the stairs.

Father glared at us from the bottom step. "Sam?"

Mario removed his hand from me. "Sir, I, uh…" He paused and glanced at me. "I can explain!"

Father chose to ignore him. "Sam, what in the world are you still doing up?"

I found myself dumbfounded. "I, um, er, well, uh." I wasn't able to think all that straight even with this sudden burst of energy. Was that what the mushroom was supposed to do?

Yet somehow in the midst of my brain fog, a question was able to worm itself out: how exactly would you explain the shouting or the short Italian guy?

Mario spoke in my steed, or he at least tried to. "We, uh..." Now he looked between me and Father.

I got up, wiping my mouth of my meal from earlier. " _I_ can explain what's going on," I said.

Father made his way up the stairs until he towered over me.

Mario, meanwhile, moved up a step. "I did nothing wrong!" he whimpered. "Your kid was freaking out and I was trying to help her and I don't have a doctor's degree since I didn't finish school so now she might be hyper on a mushroom..."

Father ignored him. He leaned into me.

I swallowed.

"Go to bed," he said. "It's too late for you to be yelling your head off."

 _Holy cow_ , did he look scary this late at night. His eyes were sunken in from what seemed to be a severe lack of sleep. If the anger contained within them could burn, I would be on fire.

I gaped at him. "Ye-yes," I answered.

As he moved away from me he added, "Good night."

Father spun around and stormed down the steps.

I then turned to the open doorway that led into my bedroom. "This," I muttered, "is going to suck."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Of course, my reaction after being yelled at was to go straight to bed. I had a lot to process. And along with that, I had freaked out in front of the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom.

Mario apparently got the same idea as me. He immediately clunked out on the chair by my desk despite my repeatedly asking him to leave.

I watched him snore. He used one of the seat's armrests as a pillow. I wondered how could anyone possibly be comfortable sleeping like that. I mean, from what I knew from playing _Dream Team_ , Luigi could sleep anywhere and not be bothered. Could the same be said for his older brother?

I laid down. Mario's hat squished itself between the pillow and my head yet again. Groaning, I sat back up, took it off, and tossed it over by its actual owner.

He didn't budge when it landed next to his face.

"Night," I called to him, digging under my sheets.

Mario continued snoring away.

I wondered for the hundredth time if any of this was, at all, real. It could be that tomorrow I would wake up and he and the hat would be gone. Father hadn't even acknowledged Mario's existence when he was standing right next to me. Could it be proof that I was going crazy, or should I really not have had that mushroom?

Guess I would find out tomorrow morning.


	4. Scrambled Eggs for Two

_Sam_

My head throbbed like crazy when my phone alarm woke me. Despite the pain, I forced myself to sit up.

My gaze immediately went to my desk. Nobody was sitting there. Had that whole thing last night just been a dream? I mean, who meets Super Mario, of all people, after they puke in a toilet? But who also gets hit in the face by a hat after finding a green pipe? I couldn't ignore the large red shelf of the hat hanging over my head.

I tore it off and moved to throw it at my wide-open doorway. Immediately afterward, a wave of nausea hit me and forced me to lay back down in bed.

I couldn't deny that I didn't feel well. If what Mario had told me was true, the mushroom should've helped me recover. Maybe my pain was proof enough that he hadn't been real.

 _I need to get to school!_ I yelled at myself. If I remembered right, I had a test or two I had to take today. _Come on!_

My perfect attendance record that Father jabbered about yesterday would be ruined if I didn't show up. Even worse, I wouldn't know the homework for this weekend.

I sat up again and swung my legs over the bed. My head began throbbing again.

There was aspirin in the bathroom. could have sworn that I had seen a few packets lying around there the other day. Those _had_ to help me.

My feet struggled to carry my weight, which forced me to cling to a bedpost. After a minute of overcoming more nausea, I let go of it and began my way towards the stairs.

I ended up not getting far. My legs buckled as soon as I left the thing supporting my weight. My hands reached desperately for it again as I wobbled back and forth on shaky feet.

My body hit the floor with a _THUD_.

"Getting really sick of this," I hissed, rising up my wobbly knees.

Unfortunately, my nausea won again, sending me back to the floor with another _THUD_.

The wooden stairs outside creaked. A short, chubby figure rushed into the room. I recognized him in an instant. Who wouldn't remember the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom and Nintendo's mascot, Mario?

I stared at him. I _wasn't_ crazy after all?

He rushed to my side. His worried expression softened, and he asked, "You alright?"

I attempted to stand a third time.

He kneeled down and tossed my arm over his back. "You're as red as a tomato."

Well, that was odd for him to say what with how red his shirt was.

"I need to go to school today," I told him.

"I'm thinking that you shouldn't be going _anywhere_ ," Mario said. "Your face is flushed, almost like you hav'ta-"

"I _need_ to go!" I shouted over him.

His expression soured. " _No_ ," he said, "if you're gonna be flopping all over the place, that's not okay. It'd be better for you to get more sleep."

"But I just woke up," I muttered, sighing.

He shook his head. "You need more," he said. I had opened my mouth when he added, "I was a doctor for a while. I know what I'm talking about."

"Want to explain why your "medicine" didn't work?" I growled at him. "My father probably thinks I'm crazy now."

He didn't answer and helped me stand back up. Then he led me back to my bed.

The mattress trembled beneath me as I slid back under my sheets.

"Well?" I demanded.

Mario walked back over to the stairs. "Maybe the full effect hasn't kicked in," he said. "I've heard they take longer for people not native to the Mushroom Kingdom."

"It takes longer than _five or six_ hours to work?" I said, clicking the power button on my phone. The clock now read 6:05. "And what do you mean you've "heard"? You're the "doctor"."

"Just listen to me," he said. "I can tell when people aren't well."

"I'm going, okay? I'm not staying home."

Mario turned and walked out of the room. I heard him utter an unmistakable, "Mama mia."

I sighed and sank my head into my pillow. It was ironic how Father and I were talking about my "perfect" immune system yesterday. I'd never been out sick in all the years I'd lived here.

But now I couldn't take those tests or know when that stupid astronomy project was due. And unlike the other schools in the area, the one I went to didn't have a website where you could get your information from. They were working on such a feature, but there were numerous delays and some parents, for whatever stupid reason, opposed the idea.

Rather than going on a spiel about this, let's just say that I wished the school board would hold elections more often.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

I laid in bed for a while, sometimes checking the time on my phone. The bus would have come in an hour and a half if I had started getting ready at six. But as the clock hit seven, I lost all hope of shaking off this stupid headache and catching my ride.

I glanced to my right. The dark curtains obscuring my window blocked the rising sun's light. I wouldn't have opened them even if I could stand up. I would rather not blind myself this morning.

I heard knocking and turned my head.

Mario stood at the doorway at the opposite side of the room. He pulled his fist away from the wall.

"What now?" I grumbled, still wishing he hadn't kicked my door down. I literally felt naked without it. That door let me be with my thoughts and the quiet it offered often calmed me after a long day.

"I've got good news," Mario said.

Good news? Like what? Did he find the aspirin? Did he even know what aspirin was?

"The TV says that a bunch of schools was canceled," he said, smiling when I perked up. "What's the one you go to?"

"Havenland High," I said. Was there really no school again today? How?

He fingered his chin and rubbed it. After a few seconds, he replied with, "I'm pretty sure that was one of them on the list."

I stared at him in disbelief. That sounded way too good to be true. What had happened to make them cancel for the second day in a row? I mean, I _guess_ the wind yesterday had been pretty bad. An old tree in one of our neighbors' yards went down. Could that have been it?

"Is my father here?" I asked.

"Haven't seen him," Mario said.

Good. Maybe he made it to his job regardless of whatever happened out there. Which was also good, since I didn't want to be yelled at. "Now what?" I asked.

"Do you feel alright?" he questioned.

"My head still hurts."

"Any plans to hit the hay?"

"Nope."

He came over and sat down on my bed. "So," he said, "do you wanna go downstairs soon?"

I pulled my legs in towards me and glared at him. That was my personal space he invaded!

Hopefully getting the message, he scooted to the mattress' edge. "I'm cooking breakfast," he said.

"And?" I said.

"It's eggs."

"Eggs? That's it?"

"There's bread. We could have toast."

"Make that for yourself. If I have _one more loaf_ I will puke again."

Mario shuddered. That hadn't been a good experience for either of us.

"Alright," he said, getting back on his feet. "I'll come back when it's about ready. Deal?"

"Fine, sure."

With that, Mario left my room.

Warm air from my exhale hit my hands. It seemed strange how I had called this guy out for having a cardboard personality the other day. Now he was here in my life. Seeing him trying his best to help me, like with the towel and the 'shroom, was already causing me to rethink my previous thoughts. They were nice gestures on his part even if he already was a good guy.

It would still be cool if Luigi were here instead. How would have this situation played out if I met him instead? Would he have made me stay in bed? Would he have helped me even after seeing what I puked up? Perhaps I would never know.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

When Mario returned, he allowed me to lean on him as we went downstairs to the kitchen. He did, although, grumble the whole way down. Not my fault if he was short enough to be used as an armrest.

When I sat down at the dining table, he rushed over to the stove and hopped on top of a chair there.

"You left the fridge open," I said.

Mario rubbed the back of his yet again hatless head. "Maybe I got too excited when I found the eggs," he said with a chuckle.

I took off his stupid hat, which yet again had found its way back to me. "We don't often go grocery shopping," I said. "When we do, we usually bring home whatever my father thinks is necessary."

Mario twirled the spatula around before plunging it into the pan. He frowned at me. "How do you live like that?" he asked. "Don't you at least have snacks lying around?"

"You didn't see the leftovers in the fridge?"

"Pasta's not breakfast," Mario said, pointing the spatula at me now. "It's not alfredo either." He paused for a moment. "Or carbonara. Should've been carbonara."

"How many of those are you using?" I asked, gesturing at the carton of eggs by the stove.

"A few," he answered. His eyes shifted upwards and he put the spatula down. "Is that a problem? Should I make more?"

I realized that he was focusing on his hat and took it off again. "No…?" I said.

Mario seemed to morph into a red blur as he rushed over, ripped the hat from my hands, and plopped it over his messy brown hair.

My chair screeched against the floor. "Okay," I shouted, " _aggressive much_?"

Mario finished fixing his hat. He wore a sheepish look on his face. "Sorry," he said.

Now a sharp smell entered my nose. I glanced around him.

Smoke rose from the stove. Flames consumed the sides of the frying pan.

"Uh, Mar?" I found myself shouting. "The eggs are on fire!"

"Mar?" Aside from his mouth opening to speak, he didn't move.

I attempted to stand, but that only caused my nausea to return. It was determined to keep me down. As I fell into my seat, I yelled at Mario, "The pan's on fire! I don't want my house burning down next!"

His spun around to see the smoke and gasped. "I was sure I lowered the flame!" he yelped.

That was worthy of a facepalm from me.

Mario rushed over to the stove, coughing as he inhaled the smoke.

I dug my hand further into my face. I watched between a small gap in my fingers as he fiddled with the various knobs on the stove.

A little fan overhead him whirred to life. He grumbled as he clambered back to solid ground.

I pulled my hand down.

"Luigi's better at cooking," I caught him murmuring. "Guess I'll use the toaster oven next time."

"Is… Is the food okay?" I asked.

"Everything's fine," Mario reassured me. "I'll eat the burnt chunks." Yet under his cheerful attitude, I could see his grin almost falter.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Mario came back to the table with three plates. Two empty ones were set before me and his seat. He put the third one, which held the eggs, between us.

He ended up getting carried away with making our breakfast. There was an empty carton in the trash now.

I picked at the large platter with my fork while mentally reassuring myself that the loss of the eggs wouldn't matter much to my father. He had never liked eating them all that much. To him, they were ingredients to use in other things, like chocolate cake.

Mario took a couple of burnt chunks for his plate. He frowned at them before applying a large dose of ketchup to the pile.

We ate quietly for the next few minutes.

As I was polishing off my share, he spoke up. "I've been thinking about what happened last night."

"Yeah?" I said.

"Remember how you told me that I've got no way home?"

"Do you "comprendo" now?"

"If there was a pipe that brought me to your world," he said, "there has to be another one hidden nearby."

"Guess you have a point?" How could I be sure when yesterday was the first time I had seen one in real life?

Mario stood. I noticed a small pillow underneath him. It wasn't one of ours. I guess it came from his pockets. Whatever the case, he stood on his chair and pointed at me.

"That's why _you_ hav'ta help me get home!" he said.

I flinched away.

"It'll be fun!" he said, seemingly ignoring me. "Of course, you've got stuff to do. I can hang around if you're busy. But we'll hav'ta go pipe hunting when you get back."

"How," I asked, "and where? I don't have the faintest idea of where any of your warp pipes could be, and I didn't say that I would _help_ you."

He was on a roll. "We'll be searching secluded areas, like forests or the sewers. That's where all the unmapped ones usually are, after all-"

I cut in. "You want me to walk in _sewage_? I've done enough throwing up for a week, thank you very much-"

He cut back in, clasping his hands together. "I gotta get home. Everyone back there has to be worrying about me, especially Luigi-"

I cut back- Forget it. Anyone could see where this was going. "Can't the great and powerful Mario do this by himself? I never asked for this." As I finished speaking, I tore his stupid hat off my head.

"That was the pipe's fault, I guess," Mario sighed, shrugging. "Not mine." He collapsed back into his seat. "So are you gonna help me or what? No way I wanna be alone in this "America" place."

I ate the last of my ketchup-splattered eggs. _Go adventuring with Mario, of all people? Here?_

 _People will think you're even more ridiculous running around with an overexcited short guy._

 _No, wouldn't that make me more popular? He's_ Nintendo's _mascot, for crying out loud!_

 _This sounds stupid. You could be aimlessly searching for a way back to his world for a while._

 _Oh, forget you!_

I came back to reality with a white glove waving in my face.

"Hellooooo, Mushroom Kingdom to Sam."

I turned to my left.

"You're still awake," Mario chuckled. "That's good." He picked up my plate and stacked it over his own.

"Thanks," I said.

He walked over to the sink and dropped the dishes into it. "No problem," he replied. "Was the food okay? You, uh, can see that I'm not all that good of a cook."

"The eggs were fine," I said, using my chair to help prop me up.

His eyebrows rose when he saw me upright, but he decided to focus on the sink instead. "By the way, I wanna see if I can fix that door of yours," he said, stopping what he was doing to stare at his gloves. A few seconds later, he shrugged and tore both of them off. "You know, as an apology for last night."

You have no idea how much I would love to lock myself in my room, especially if Mario didn't end up sleeping there again. People needed their privacy, after all, and, believe me, I needed it _bad_.

"How would you do it?" I asked. "Last I checked, we didn't have a toolbox. I'm pretty sure you'd at least need a wrench and hammer."

Mario pulled this large object from out of nowhere and plopped it to the floor without glancing away from the dishes.

My eyes widened. Wasn't that his mallet from the _Mario and Luigi_ games.

"I don't have a wrench on me, but I can figure it out," Mario said. He smiled when he saw my expression and patted the stick end of the mallet. "You'd be surprised what can be done with just this little guy."

Did this mean that the M&L series was "canon"? They had to be; I used to love those games. Like-

 _This isn't a good time to fangirling_ , I reminded myself.

I focused back on the conversation at hand. "Well, don't break the door if you plan to go that route," I said.

"Trust me, I got this," he said. "You focus on getting better." He went back to the sink. "And don't forget that we're hunting for a pipe soon."

"Wait a second," I said. "I didn't agree to that, you son of a-"

A car horn sounded from the distance. I nearly flinched.

"Wasn't that appropriate?" I grumbled.

"Ya know since I first woke up," he said, "there's been this gap in my memory."

"Amnesia, you mean?"

"Guess so. I have no idea how I ended up here. I'm not as worried about Luigi as much as I am for the princess. My bro's proven he can handle things on his own. There was this whole thing where Bowser tried to marry Peach, though. What if he tries to kidnap her while-" Mario stopped suddenly. "Do you, uh, understand anything that I'm saying?"

"Yeah, I know. You traveled the world to stop Bowser from marrying her in your last adventure." I was hoping I was getting that right, what with _Super Mario Odyssey_ coming out only a few months back. "What you're saying is that you want to get home to protect her."

"Exactly," he said. "Can I have your help now?"

I folded my arms.

His sky-blue eyes softened. "Please?" he asked. "You gotta help the stranded guy!"

I directly met his gaze. Any tension in my body seemed to fade as I stared into his eyes. Even for someone as reluctant as me, I guess I couldn't stand watching others beg.

Now wasn't the time to dwell on that. I let go of the chair holding me up and stood over Mario. I was maybe a foot or so taller than him.

"Fine, I'll help you-" I stopped and looked down. " _What the hell_?"

He hugged me. Or maybe he grabbed me so I wouldn't fall over.

I squeaked as he squeezed me tightly. That _was_ a hug.

"Thank you!" Mario cried. "You're not gonna regret this, Sam. It'll be fun!"

I put my hand on his oversized head to untangle him from me. However, I found myself stopping as he pressed that big head of his against me. He was covered head-to-toe in clothing yet radiated warmth. To me, I guess that felt… Good? Was it because he was warm on a winter day?

My eyelids closed. I leaned into towards him.

A voice inside me screamed.

I ignored it. I felt myself relax.

Other than my head, which fell limp, the rest of my body had other plans. My muscles locked in place.

 _EXCUSE ME_ , a voice within me cried. _WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?_

Mario squeezed me again.

 _If he doesn't let go, you should push him away._

 _But that's rude!_

 _I don't want to be crushed to death._

Before my hand could latch on to him, he pulled back. He brandished his hat at me. "Taking this back while I'm at it."

"Fi-fine with me," I sputtered.

Darn it, touchy-feely shenanigans aren't my thing!

…Um, yeah. Sometimes I wonder if I should shut up.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

I fled the kitchen soon after that whole thing with Mario. Or, you know, I tried to.

He had to help me walk to the living room, where the TV was on and showcasing a cartoon channel.

Actually, scratch that. It was a kiddie channel. There was a pink bunny on-screen. It bounced away as the show's name fell down.

" _Fluffy Bunny_?" I said as I collapsed onto the couch. "Seriously?"

Mario sat next to me and picked up the remote.

"What are you?" I asked him. "Twenty-something?"

"Twenty-four."

"What the hell?" I should have expected this. A childish man would obviously watch childish shows. "Could you put the channel eight news on?"

A moment of him fiddling with the remote later:

"Ya see," the man on TV said, "the roads are still slippery after this latest storm. I can not stress enough about how dangerous this can be." He gestured at a traffic map behind him.

Mario leaned back into his seat. "I'm not driving."

"Father is." I could see one of my neighbors shoveling her drive from our window. Other than that, the white snow had barely been touched by cars and human feet.

"He'll be fine."

I nodded and settled into my seat.

The time on the cable box hit 7:30. The news went to commercial.

I laid my head down on the armrest.

My bus driver should have been here by now. That, or he would have been a few minutes early. Everyone he picked up often complained of how he never gave them enough time to run to the bus before he flew off into the sunrise. Last year, there had even been parents petitioning to get him fired. Their pleas, unfortunately, weren't answered by the school board or the bus company. Guess they were both fine keeping around a guy who blew past our street's stop sign five times a week.

"Will they show the closings again?" I asked. "I should check the list to make sure."

Mario glanced over at me. "Trust me, Sam," he said. "I wouldn't lie to ya."

"Let me see it for myself-"

A car horn went off, I should say, several times.

I spun around.

Right in front of my house was a bright yellow bus. Three figures ran towards it from a nearby house.

I leaped off the couch. "What the hell?"

There were _no_ other buses from my district or other nearby ones that came this way. They weren't as obnoxiously loud as the one my driver had too. That bus was unmistakably mine, and here I was sitting around in my pajamas!

My angry gaze fell upon Mario.

"You lied to me," I hissed. "I should be going back today."

He kept direct eye contact with me as he spoke. "Hey, I'm sorry-"

"Shut up!" I yelled back.

The bus' horn went off again.

I continued watching the scene outside in disbelief. Anger coursed through my veins, keeping me upright even through my pounding headache.

"I'm going to kill you," I growled at Mario. "I swear to God…"

Wow me for making death threats towards Nintendo's mascot.

My legs buckled. I reached down for the armrest to steady myself. But that didn't help, as it turned out. My legs gave out and my hand slipped from the couch.

I heard a gasp. A pair of hands reached over to catch me before I hit the ground. I felt them lift me up so that my head rested on something soft.

Mad at him as I was, I was impressed by how quickly Mario reacted. Before I could comment on it, however, my consciousness faded.


	5. Super Mario 3D World

_Mario_

"Sam!" I shouted, laying her against the couch.

She moaned.

Alright, good. She was responding. "Are you alright?" I asked.

Her eyes fluttered open. She mumbled a "Huh?"

I sat down next to her.

Sam's hand flew up to her hair. She relaxed when she found my hat not there.

I put it back on. "Are you doing okay?" I questioned.

She pushed herself up. "Tha-that's the second time I've lost consciousness in two days," she stuttered out. "The first was after that stupid hat of yours showed up. I banged my head on the wall."

If there was one thing I learned from my brief job as a doctor, it was the signs of a concussion. A couple of symptoms seemed to be here with Sam.

"I think I know what might be happening to you," I said. "Let's get you seated on the couch."

She didn't protest as I grabbed her hand and helped her up. Once I got her to comfortably sit down on the couch, I dug through my pockets and got out a notepad and pen.

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

 _Sam's Concussion Symptoms?_

Headache

Fainted twice (Or three?)

Vomited (Ew)

Nausea

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

"A concussion?" Sam said. She held her head as she scanned my handwritten notes. "May-maybe that, on top of seeing imaginary people."

"Again," I told her, "I'm real."

Geez. When was she going to get over that?

A car horn sounded. I glanced out the window. Why was the bus still here?

"How hard did you hit your head?" I asked.

"If I remember right," Sam said, "it was _hard_."

"Why didn't you tell your dad about this?!" I said. "You should've gone to the hospital."

The bus' horn went off _again_.

I glanced out the window. "Shouldn't your bus driver have left already- Oh."

Somebody parked a big truck in the middle of the street. I could see the bus driver from here, screaming at it. Given how angry he looked, maybe it was good that we couldn't hear him.

Sam sat up and watched the scene with me.

 _"BEEEP!"_

She withdrew the window and sighed. " _Welp, there goes my perfect attendance._ "

"Since when does that matter?" I asked, putting down the notepad. "You won't hav'ta go in for a day or two. Wouldn't a break would be nice?"

"It's Friday. I'll be sick during the week-" Sam stopped suddenly.

"You'll be able to get some rest," I said.

 _"Did he…"_

I picked up a frilly pillow and hugged it. "Did I what?" I asked.

Her mouth fell open. I noticed how it didn't move as I heard, " _Can… Can you hear this?"_

"Ye-yeah," I said. "I can."

She shrunk away from me. _"How…?"_

I knew this was telepathy. Luigi and I had moments of them growing up. They were why the Yoshis were able to reunite me with my bro when we were babies. We've had moments of finishing each other's sentences and feeling each other's pain. You know, pretty much all of that twin stuff.

"Okay, this is getting too close for comfort," Sam said. "People here don't have psychic powers or plumbers who somehow possess you overnight and make you puke or pipes-"

"Or pipes in their toilets," I finished for her. "We've been all over this."

"When I was younger, I imagined a meeting with the Mario Bros," Sam said, "But never like this!" She stood up. Oddly enough, she was able to stay on her feet. "It doesn't help that you invaded my privacy like three times in two days, the third time being in my mind."

An image of a trash bin popped up in my mind. It was followed by her thinking, " _I won't have to mention this to Father if I kick him out now."_

"Sam," I said. "Please, it's okay."

Sam's bus was leaving now. So much for that.

"You've had it rough," I said, "but _please_ give me another chance. I barely have an idea where I am aside from this place being called Havenland and I have no clue why I'm here and I never got to try the local pasta, which I hope isn't marinara 'cause I'm tired of that stuff, and…"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

I found myself on Sam's porch clutching that pillow from her couch.

Sam finished locking the door and turned away. _"There. Not my problem anymore."_

"I can still hear you!" I yelled at the house.

 _"GO AWAY!"_

I slapped my hands over my ears, but her loud voice still echoed in my mind. I collapsed on the porch steps.

That was strange. When the telepathy started, she was able to stand on her own and throw me out! Had I been wrong about her having a concussion all along? Guess I really did waste a week of my life learning that "doctor" stuff.

"I'll leave her alone for a bit," I mumbled, shivering. Would she be more willing to forgive me after having some time to herself, as she liked jabbering about?

I saw snow all over the place. It was on people's yards, in the street, and covering all the trees and bushes. Hopefully, she changed her mind before I froze to death out here. Well, maybe I _could_ use firebrand to try and warm myself up, but it didn't compare to a fire flower's warmth or a winter coat. Firebrand takes forever to charge up sometimes.

At least using my fire was an option. I flexed my left hand and felt some heat collect under my glove. It faded away while I hugged that pillow Sam had left me with.

Despite the pillow's fluffy appearance, there was this rectangular spot in there. Strangely enough, the spot didn't change no matter how much I messed with it or the pillow. It even felt hard when I pressed down on it.

I searched for a zipper and pulled on it. When the pillow was wide open, I stuck my arm inside. I ended up fishing a skinny light blue box from the pillow's white stuffing. The back end of a disc faced me.

"How'd this get in here?" I asked nobody in particular.

How stupid was I? Somebody obviously put it there. Why'd they hidden it? What could be on it…?

Uh, let'sa move on.

Inside the case was a disc. On the disc was a picture of this guy in a yellow cat suit.

I found myself violently shaking my head at that. Wait. No. What? That couldn't be right.

I pulled the case open and studied the picture on the disc. Yeah, I knew that guy! I was right!

The guy in the picture had my face. The 'stache was shaped like mine too. He was _me_.

I lowered the disc. What was this? Sam had told me that this world wasn't part of mine, yet this guy here was me. _"Super Mario"_ was even part of the title! A lot of people called me that back home.

I'd never seen anything like this. There's this counsel I go to once a month when deciding what products go under my name, what with me being a superstar and all. This never showed up there. Nobody approved of it!

I stood back up, holding both the pillow and the CD case. I went up to the welcome mat.

 _"There's no way you're coming back in here."_

I looked to my left.

Sam met my eyes through the living room window.

"Open up!" I yelled. I waved the case at her.

 _"Who do you think you are? My father?"_

"I'm an adult!"

 _"So am I. That means I have the right to kick you out."_

"You're probably only eighteen or nineteen. Since when does that make you qualified to throw people out onto the street?"

 _"If we're being ageist, that mustache makes you look like you're forty."_

"I'm twenty-four!" I yelled back at her, knocking on the door. "If I were to hit it hard enough, this door would go down too. How'd you like to explain that to your dad?"

 _"How would you? You'd be the one responsible."_ She glanced around the street. _"Does literally nobody else hear him yelling?"_

"Your dad thinks you're the one who broke the bedroom door. If this other one were to go down, he'd blame you again, not me."

She folded her arms. _"Oh, blah blah, whatever."_

"Okay, fine," I said, glancing at the disc's case. "Can you explain something to me?"

 _"No."_

"Sam, what's Nintendo?"

Silence on her end. I wondered if she was ignoring me now.

I took a second look through the window.

Sam was still there.

I waved the case at her.

When she saw that, her expression changed. It went from a glare to wide-eyed confusion.

 _"How'd you get that?"_ she asked.

"It was in the pillow you left me with," I said, lowering my arm. "Can you let me in?"

Sam disappeared from the window.

The front door opened a few seconds later. The two of us stood there staring through the screen.

Finally, she stepped aside to let me back inside. Going by her frown, she wasn't thrilled about it.

Neither was I as I shoved the case in her hands. "Is that me?" I asked.

"No, that's Luigi," she said.

I just stood there.

"Yes, it's you," she elaborated. "That's a video game about you." _I didn't think about the Super Mario games! Doesn't seem like he knows about them. What would he think?_ Like that, her anger faded. She opened the case and took the disc out.

"I heard that," I reminded her.

She groaned and gestured at the living room. "Just go," she said.

I shut the door behind me. "How are you feeling, by the way?" I asked. "You seem a whole lot better now."

Sam hesitated. Her frown dropped.

"Oh, th-that headache?" she stammered. "It went away as soon as the telepathy started."

"That's great!" I said.

I could've sworn I saw her mouth twitch.

A thought of her's echoed in my mind. _Even after that stupid argument, he's checking on me? That's… Weirdly nice of him._

I smiled at that.

Like that, by watching me, that warmth of hers faded from her face. The scowl came back.

"Let's get this over with," she said. "And _please_ stay out of my head."

I sighed as I followed her. If only I could.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Turns out that there was this device by Sam's TV that looked a lot like a DVD player. I'm not sure how I could've missed it the first time around with the glowing red light by the power button.

As Sam switched it on, I read the brand name off of it. "Wii U?" That was a strange name. Like, We You? Why not Me You, You We, or We Me? Me You We? I dunno.

The light on the system flashed blue. Sam put the disc into it, but the TV didn't change. She got the remote and fiddled around with the settings.

The main menu, I found out, was a bunch of virtual people walking around on the screen. But now what?

I glanced around.

Huh. There was a glowing black box on the table. How had I not see that either?

I picked it up and sat down on the couch. One of the icons on the device was my face. The cursor highlighted it.

Sam collapsed on the couch next to me. She tapped the icon.

We waited, and-

 _"Super Mario 3D World!"_

My voice! It'd been doubled on the TV and tablet too!

Several people showed up on both the TV screen and tablet. I instantly recognized them… Peach, Luigi, one of Peach's guard Toads, and _me_.

Everyone donned cat suits during the cutscene. They fought a goomba or two. Then they ran off.

Sam tapped my shoulder. I turned to look at her, and she held a skinny white object out to me. "Here," she said, "take this."

I took it from her. "What's this?" I asked.

"A Wii remote. If you're playing, you'll need that."

"And you're playing with that?" I asked as she took the black box from me.

"It's easier for me," she said, clicking into the game.

I frowned at my hands, which were massive compared to the remote. If I wanted to stay on her good side, it'd be best for me to not complain about it.

The cursor on-screen hovered on a box that read "Empty".

"So I guess you'll be playing as you and I'll be Luigi?" Sam asked.

"Huh?" I said. Now we were selecting our characters. My cursor sat on a portrait of me while Sam's was on my bro's. "Oh. Sure."

We confirmed our choices and started the game.


	6. Grounded

_Sam_

I would hate to admit it, but Mario's a fast learner. It didn't matter if we had to work together in _3D World;_ he would always reach the flagpole way before I did and sometimes force whoever I picked to bubble up as he rushed through the levels.

Then, in _Super Smash Bros._ , he beat me to a pulp while playing as himself and chose Luigi to do it all over again. I barely managed to win a Sudden Death against Mario by spamming Dark Pit's electroshock cannon until he got hit, and I feel no shame in admitting that.

Shortly after that, I nearly went mad when we tried one of the later _Mario Party_ games. It _sucked_. Pretty much everyone targeted me, and I barely edged into second place since CPUs screwed themselves over with Bowser Spaces.

The one game I dominated in was _Mario Kart 8_ during some 200cc races, but Mario always came in at a close second. Somehow still I lucked out and managed to drag him down with me whenever a blue shell came.

Mario remained cheery even when he was on the losing side, although I assumed he only acted that way because he took pity on me. He sometimes piped up with a comment or two, and I learned some interesting tidbits that way. For example, there had only ever been one _Kart_ event in the Mushroom Kingdom. The rest of the series never happened.

I got to ask him a few questions as we played like, "Does your brother have a ghost dog for a pet?"

He often responded, grinning, with things like, "Yep! He calls him Polter."

He burst out laughing when I told him how unoriginal that name was.

I found it all to be fun, actually. It was hard not to get too angry with him when he quipped about this one time he stopped by the Starbeans back home and-

What the _hell_ was I saying? Was I really enjoying being around this guy? Why should I like Mario? He had only caused me trouble since he first showed up here.

The clock under the TV read _12:30._ I stood to stretch and let out a yawn.

"That was pretty good," Mario said.

"You were expecting a Nintendo game to be terrible?" I asked. "They're pretty consistent when it comes to quality."

"Most of the things that the council back home doesn't approve of suck."

I crossed my arms. _Uh, duh?_

"Yeah, that's a given. Sorry."

I rolled my eyes and asked, "The Mushroom Kingdom has a council? Does Princess Peach not have control over everything?"

"No, that's not what I meant. Any products related to me normally hav'ta go through some judges. It's part of a company an old friend and I set up."

"Okay…" _Wasn't there something like that in one the_ Mario vs. Donkey Kong _games? Never played those._

"You're asking me," he said, shrugging.

"When I am not asking at all," I mumbled under my breath as I shut down the system.

He surprisingly didn't catch that. Huh. What if I spoke to myself more often…?

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

When lunch came around, I relocated to the kitchen while Mario went upstairs to do his end of our deal. I threw a couple of hash browns into the toaster oven at his request.

"Rawr," squeaked a voice behind me. At that moment, Tabitha marched into the kitchen.

"Are you hungry too?" I asked her.

She sat on her haunches and stared at me.

I located her small bag of cat food thankfully on the lower cabinet shelf. I then scooped it and her bowl up before refilling her food.

She didn't move as I put the bowl back on the floor.

I waited.

Our staring contest went on for a few moments.

Finally, I sighed and picked up the other bowl. I turned on the sink so as to replace her water.

Only after did I put the bowl back down did she stick her head into the food bowl.

I shook my head and took out my phone. It worked pretty well despite being two or three years old. I honestly had never felt the need to upgrade it.

I set Mario's food to cook for twenty minutes using the phone's alarm app. After that, I focused on scraping out the leftover spaghetti from its container.

A loud crash made me drop the fork I was using.

The hairs on Tabitha's back arched.

 _What was that?_ I thought.

"Accidentally threw the mallet down a flight," Mario yelled from upstairs. "Sorry 'bout that!"

I went back to my work, deciding to give him a pass. So I threw the rest of the pasta on to the plate, poured on the marinara, got it all into the microwave, and inputted the numbers into it-

Another crash.

 _"Okay,"_ I yelled in my head, " _what's going on up there?"_

No response. Did he not hear me this time?

 _"Mar?"_

I heard a third noise, this time much louder than the others.

"Geez, Sam," I heard him respond. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

 _"What are you doing?"_

"My end of the bargain. Didn't I tell you about the mallet?"

Okay, now I remembered. _"Are the loud noises necessary?"_ I asked. " _You're scaring Tabitha."_ I watched as she crouched under the kitchen table.

"Loud's the way I gotta go!" he shouted back.

As time flew by, that was what I had to put up with. It occurred to me to wonder again how he could do his job with just a huge sledgehammer, mallet, or whatever he wanted to call it. I, however, decided not to ask. I was happy as long as it worked.

The microwave beeped.

Tabitha slipped out from beneath the table while I ate. She made her way back over to her dishes, drank her water, and promptly ran off to somewhere else in the house.

At around 12:55, my phone's timer went off. The hash browns seemed cooked enough to me, so I carried them over to the table.

 _"Hey,"_ I said, _"your food's ready."_

The wooden floorboards outside of the kitchen creaked. Mario's voice was a lot closer this time and I heard, "Great timing. I'm done with everything upstairs."

I breezed past him, barely registering his wide-eyed expression, and flew up the steps to my room. Lo and behold, there was my door perfectly set back into its hinges.

I slowly opened it and shut it closed. **"** It works!" I said. "How did you do it?"

"I've got my secrets," I heard him respond. "All you know is that involved the mallet."

I turned to see him standing behind me. Wow, he was quick. He even had the hash browns with him.

"Satisfied?" he asked.

"Yep," I said. "I have my room back."

"Can I ask why you were so obsessed over that?"

"What?"

"Your door and your privacy. You never stop blabbing about it."

I stepped into my room.

Mario rubbed the back of his neck. "Or is that inappropriate to ask?" he said.

I glanced back at him and sighed. "When you've been treated like shit your entire life, you need a safe place to hide from it all."

I turned away from him. "Even if he threatens to tear down your door anyway," I muttered.

Then I walked into my room and locked myself inside, leaving Mario alone on the steps.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

A loud knock startled me awake.

"Sam, are you there?" said a gruff voice.

I rubbed the sleep from my face as I sat up. My hand instinctively went for my phone to check the time… Two o'clock in the afternoon.

"Sam?"

Groaning, I got up and wandered over to my bedroom door.

"Dad?" I called through it.

"Yes. Now open up."

"Oh goodie," I grumbled. I unlocked my door.

Father stood at the top of my steps.

Mario was there too, awkwardly hanging out behind him. He waved at me.

 _"What are you doing here?"_ I asked him.

"He's been angry since he came back," he said.

 _Angry?_ Oh boy, here we go.

"You're home early," I remarked to Father. _Again._

"If you're smugly standing there," he said, "do you already know that you're guilty?"

 _"Smug?"_ Since when was I ever smug? Angry, sure, with all that happened so far, but _smug_? I decided to ask about the second thing instead. "I'm "guilty"?"

"Your school called me. You skipped out."

"That wasn't all my fault!"

"You're grounded."

What?

 _What?_

Was he grounding me just because I "skipped out"? Since when in hell was _that_ a thing? This was my first time not going to school in a long while, but _come on_.

In the midst of my confusion, I asked, "Don't you notice that I've had the door fixed?"

"I know," Father said. "Good job. You're still grounded."

After uttering that, he left the room and brushed by Mario. If Father had noticed him, he strangely refused to comment on it.

Mario ran a hand through his hair, having taken his gloves, and more notably, his hat, off. Why not his shoes, I had no idea.

 _Great._ He was getting comfortable.

I flopped back into bed and buried my face into my pillow.


	7. Seeing Red

_Mario_

 _"When you've been treated like shit your entire life, you need a safe place to hide from it all."_

What had happened to her for her think like that? Guess I'd hav'ta ask another time, 'cause I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to in her head. It's completely different from when I was exploring Luigi's dreams or using Cappy to possess people. I nearly flinched when I heard her rage over an English paper and did my best to block her out with some TV.

I'll also admit that I barely got any sleep on Sam's couch. It wasn't like home, where at night my little bro would be snoring away in his bed a step away from mine, the curtains would be shut tight, and I'd hear the crickets chirping. I really missed that.

Well, I survived the night. Guess that's all that matters.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Remember how I said there's not much food in the house? I dug deep for breakfast today. The refrigerator and freezer had nothing that interested me, so I hopped on top of that kitchen counter to get to the shelves.

If you're wondering what I was making, it was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. There was no way I could mess up slathering two pieces of bread and smashing them together.

I'd just put the sandwich together when I heard a yawn outside the room.

"Sam?" I called. "Is that you?"

The guy towering over me told me otherwise.

I nervously laughed and slowly slid the sandwich away from me. _Whoops._

Sam's dad pressed a phone against his ear. "I gotcha," he said into it. "I'll have my part of the presentation done by Sunday."

As I sat there, I realized I didn't have my hat or my gloves. I'd taken off my shoes a while ago. What if he kicked me outta his house once he saw me?

Sam's dad chuckled. "Yeah, can't help you out with her there. I'm not an expert on that."

My stomach rumbled again. It didn't wanna wait for this conversation to end, huh?

I reached for my plate. Maybe it'd be possible to sneak by him?

The plate scrapped against the counter. I cringed and pulled my hand away. _Nuts._

Sam's dad stared straight up at me.

I froze. _Double nuts._

It was time for Plan B. I grinned at him and shuffled away from my breakfast.

"Hey…" I said. "There's nothing to see here. I'm just a guy who needed to eat…"

He kept staring at me.

I was tempted to grab my food and run. I nearly did when Sam's dad walked over.

"So, uh… Hi?" I squeaked out.

He didn't say a thing back. He scooped up the sandwich and studied it.

 _Ew, no!_ "Germs are a thing, ya know," I said. "That's mine."

"Let me guess," he said, "she's trying to butter me up?"

"There _is_ peanut butter in there," I replied.

He shrugged. "Eh, I'll take it," he said. "I'm still grounding her."

My jaw dropped. I watched the plate I had put l my food on be picked up by this man. "Hey!" I shouted. "That's also mine!"

Sam's dad didn't seem to care. He walked to the dining table with my breakfast and sat down.

"Yeah," he said into the phone, "Sammy's been trying to worm her way out of that late assignment of her's." A pause. Then, "Oh, I'm not taking the bait. I finally saw her grades the other day. She's failing her classes."

"Huh?" Should I be confused by him calling Sam 'Sammy' or by the other thing? The part where he said that she was failing school?

Hold up. She _what?_

"It's making me wonder if she'll be held back or, worse, fail outta high school. You have no clue how _devastated_ I'd be if that happened. And remember what I told you about Violetta?"

I slid off the counter and rushed from the kitchen.

Sam's dad didn't turn to watch me rush from the room. He didn't seem to care at all that I was there. Guess that was a thing to wonder about later though, 'cause I had something _way_ more important to take of.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Hey," I yelled, pounding on Sam's bedroom door, "what're you doing in there?"

She didn't come to the door.

"Hello?"

Still quiet.

I sighed. "If you don't open up," I said, "I'm breaking in."

The door flew open, and Sam stood there in front of me. Her shirt was all wrinkled and she wore a pair of loose-fitting pajama pants. Her hair got tangled up like a bird's nest, and dark circles lingered under her eyes.

"Don't. You. _Dare,_ " she hissed at me. "I'm busy writing this damn essay, you're threatening my privacy again, and my dad stole my phone."

"Sam," I said, "we need to talk."

"I want my damn phone back," she said.

"Talk first, phone later."

Sam rolled her eyes. She moved to close the door.

I thrust my hand out and caught it mid-shut.

She gasped. Her tired eyes flew open.

I pushed the door wide open. "I heard your dad say that you'll fail school if you keep messing up," I said. "Is that true?"

Sam shrank away from me. "Um…" she whimpered.

"That's why I'm here," I said, stepping into her room. "You're not failing out as long as I'm around. You wanna know why?" I jabbed a finger at myself. "'Cause you're talking to Mr. Dropout right now."

If she didn't look confused, I bet she'd be asking how the "great and powerful" Mario, as she's called me, never finished school It couldn't have been 'cause of a bad cube drawing in an art class.

…Note to self: maybe never mention that to anybody. I'd get laughed at.

"Why don't we get started?" I said, shutting the door behind me.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

A few minutes later, we were sitting together at Sam's desk. Sam studied the blank piece of paper in front of her. Meanwhile, I flipped through the big textbook in my lap.

"So," I said, "what exactly are you doing?"

"An essay," Sam told me.

This shouldn't be too big of a deal. I remember having to do plenty of essays back in school. "What's it on?" I asked.

"Greek _arête._ "

"Huh?"

"Greece."

I put the book down in my lap. "'Grease'?"

"It's a country here."

"Is it based on fried food?" That sounded like my sorta place!

"No," she said.

"Oh," I said, flipping over a page and scanning the table of contents. Maybe I should've expected that. "What's _arête_?"

How would you pronounce that? Ar-re-ta? Ar-ay-tay? Ar-e-tea? I should've paid attention to how she said it the first time, 'cause I said that first one.

"Read about it," Sam muttered, sighing.

I shut the textbook closed. "I wanna see if you know what you're doing first," I said. "Explain to me what it is."

There was a bulge in her neck for a second before I heard, " _Arête_ 's this, um, old Greek code of honor where a man must live up his potential and display moral virtue. Those who followed this code put their city before themselves and their families..."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

 _The Bros knew their perfect midsummer day was about to be ruined when a wounded elderly Toad stumbled on to their property._ _  
_ _  
_ _Luigi could only gape at him in horror. The garden shears he used on his rose bushes slipped from his hands as he followed the red trail that spottily dotted the path behind the pitiful Toad._ _  
_ _  
_ _Toadsworth fell face forward, groaning weakly. He trembled violently upon the dirt path._ _  
_ _  
_ _Unable to watch any longer, Luigi shouted for,_ "Mario!"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

 _"Big Bro!" Luigi shouted. "Wait!"_ _  
_ _  
_ _Mario stopped at the door. "Yeah?" he said._ _  
_ _  
_ _"Do-don't go! Didn't you see what happened to Peach's advisor?"_ _  
_ _  
_ _"Weegee," he retorted, "_ Peach _is still in the castle. We can't abandon her!"_ _  
_ _  
_ _Luigi went silent._ _  
_ _  
_ _Dark storm clouds rolled in high above their heads. The temperature dropped rapidly, leaving both of them shivering in front of their house._ _  
_ _  
_ _One of the invader's large bluish beasts, a wyvern-like creature, stomped across town. Buildings it merely brushed by crumbled, and people in the distance screamed._ _  
_ _  
_ _Both of the bros jumped._ _  
_ _  
_ _Luigi screeched in terror._ _  
_ _  
_ _"There's that too," Mario said. "Civilians will_ die _if I continue letting those things destroy their homes!"_ _  
_ _  
_ _"Mario, no!" Luigi shouted._ _  
_ _  
_ _"I hav'ta go, Weegee," he told him. "Stay inside and take care of Toadsworth."_ _  
_ _  
_ _"Mari-"_ _  
_ _  
_ _He didn't stick around to hear the second uttering of his name. He opted instead to rush towards the town._ _  
_ _  
_ _The first flakes of white snow fell around him._

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

 _Red._ _  
_ _  
_ _He saw red everywhere. It wasn't just in the red of the carpet beneath him, but his very own._ _  
_ _  
_ _He felt intense throbbing from below his chest. Was it his abdomen where the red came from?_ _  
_ _  
_ _He heard screams. The first, he knew, belonged to a Toad. He yelled, "Run! You gotta run!"_ _  
_ _  
_ _The second voice belonged to a woman. Its shrill, terrified tone rang in his ears._ _  
_ _  
_Princess! _he thought._ _  
_ _  
_ _Peach was still here._ Why _was she still here?!_ _  
_ _  
_ _His eyes flew around. All he could see was the bright red carpet and a white wall across the room._ _  
_ _  
_ _His gaze swept back to his stomach, and he happened upon his hat. Its brim laid inches from his face._ _  
_ _  
_ _The red "M" at the front, surrounded by a circle of bright white, burned into his vision. He focused on it._ _  
_ _  
_ _"Wow," he heard a voice whisper to him. "I didn't expect a fight with the great and powerful Mario to be over that quickly."_ _  
_ _  
_ _He wanted to offer up a rebuttal; to shove those words down the owner of the voice's throat. He wanted to stand and fight them. He_ needed _to save the Peach._ _  
_ _  
_ _Unfortunately, the pain in his gut stopped him. He couldn't move or breathe. He couldn't do a thing._ _  
_ _  
_ _His vision faded, leaving only his hearing intact._ _  
_ _  
_ _"Would you like to die next, "princess"?" the same voice, louder now, tauntingly asked._ _  
_ _  
_ _There was no noise for the next few seconds. Was his hearing fading as quickly as his eyesight did? What if he died before knowing if Peach was safe?_ _  
_ _  
_ _The sound of heels pounding the stone beneath them filled his ears. Peach was fleeing the scene._ _  
_ _  
_ _His last breath, a relieved sigh, escaped him. Hopefully, she would escape on her own_.

Maybe Luigi can take Peach in, _he thought. Maybe they could fight her together.  
_ _  
_ _In the meantime, the Mushroom Kingdom had a new monarch. Her victorious laughter filled the air as Peach's footsteps faded away._ _  
_ _  
_ _A heeled shoe landed on him. It pressed tightly against his skin._ _  
_ _  
_ _He quivered._ _  
_ _  
_ _"Hope you have a nice time in the afterlife," she spoke again to him. "Tell your precious Star Spirits I said hello." She then removed her foot from his stomach. "Goodbye, Mario."_ _  
_ _  
_ _All there was left was silence, and even it faded as his life left his limbs._

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

A finger snapping in my face brought me back to reality.

Sam was there in front of me. "Mar?" she asked. "Are you okay?"

I sat up. What was _that_ all about? It had all felt real! Like, _too_ real!

My hand went for my belly, where that pain had been. There wasn't any blood, thank goodness. What had happened there?

Had those been my memories? Had that been what happened back home…?

Wait, had I _died_?! Should I be dead? Was that why Sam's dad hadn't noticed me? _What was going on?!_

I ripped my sleeve up my arm and dug my nails into my skin. I cringed and took it off. So I _could_ injure myself…

"What are you doing?" Sam said.

"Do I look alive?" I asked, reaching out to latch on to her arms. "Be honest with me."

Sam glared at me. "Uh, yes?" she said.

Her thoughts, well, thought, _"What does he mean?"_

"I remembered a few things from that gap, Sam! Toadsworth was wounded there were these monsters attacking town I was bleeding there was a woman-"

It was her turn to grab my shoulders. "Slow. Down," she said. _"What did you say?"_

"Something terrible happened back home!" I shouted.

She tilted her head.

I groaned.

She threw her arms up. _"You're the one screaming at me! I can barely understand you."_ Then she tightened her grips on my shoulders. "Take deep breaths," she suggested. "They'll calm you down." I noted how firm she sounded. "We'll talk once you've gotten yourself together."

"Ri-right," I said. I swallowed as much air as I could, and slowly released it. I did it a second time, and then a third.

Sam removed her hands from me. She flipped a page in her textbook.

Finally, I managed to say, "How about I start from the beginning?"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

By the end of my story, Sam studied what used to be her essay paper. "You're saying that you _died_ in battle?" she said. If _that's true, is that why Father hasn't noticed him? He's a_ ghost _?_

"Exactly what I was wondering," I said. "If I weren't, your dad would've already thrown me out or something, right?"

"But how could you be dead?" she asked. "You're a seasoned adventurer. You know to always carry one-ups, right?"

"Luigi almost always carries them," I said. "I usually do all the fighting, while he's my back-up."

"But he wasn't there in your last flashback."

"...Yep." I sighed, hanging my head. I dunno what happened to Toadsworth after we took him in, but I should've brought Luigi with me to the castle. Heck, even alone I should've been able to fend for myself. Where did everything go wrong?

"If you are dead, Mar," Sam said, "somehow I can see you. I'm assuming that stupid hat of yours is responsible for it. _It only makes sense."_

There she goes calling me Mar again. Was "Mario" hard for her to say? She even keeps mispronouncing my name. It's MA-rio, not MAR-io. And I'm tired of people back home jokingly calling me MARY-o.

That's enough of me complaining. The fact I _had to_ get home was more important right now. Everyone there needed me.

Tonight, I was gonna start looking for a way home.


	8. At the Park

_Sam_

 _"We're really doing this?"_ I asked. _"We're blowing off my essay?"_

Once a failure, always a failure, I suppose. Mario seemed to not care anymore and shoved peanut butter and jelly sandwich after peanut butter and jelly sandwich into my bookbag. I guess having his breakfast stolen by my father must have pissed him off.

"It's Saturday night," Mario said. He pressed the ends of his twenty-fourth sandwich together. "If we don't find anything, we can work on it tomorrow."

I spent most of the day in my room after our talk about Mario possibly being, uh, dead. Father got mad at me when I tried leaving it to do stuff. So my stomach rumbled when I spotted Father's opened pretzel bag on top of the microwave.

Mario glanced back at me. "You haven't had much to eat today, huh?" he said.

I nodded.

"There's stuff up here aside from the sandwiches," he told me. "Your dad went shopping while you were catching up on sleep."

"He did?" I asked. _A_ _gain?_ That would be a first.

Mario gestured to the cabinets. "Why don't you come up here?" he said.

"Uh, I'm short."

"Me too," he said. "I'm up here despite being shorter than you. Lift yourself up."

"You aren't supposed to climb on that."

"Unless you're short," he added. "You've noticed that you are."

Okay, sure. He had a point, but I still didn't want to do it.

"Use a chair," he said.

"Mar, I'm not doing it. I could just go into the fridge and-"

Mario's butter knife clanged against the counter. "I can't believe I'm saying this," he said, "but you're being weird."

His oversized hands swiftly came down and grabbed me under my arms.

I felt him uncomfortably squeeze my bones and tried shaking him off. "Hey!" I shouted at him. "Let me go!"

It wasn't any use. He had an iron grip on me. And seeing as I couldn't escape, he effortlessly lifted me up.

I nearly cried out when I turned my head and saw my bare feet dangle off the floor. I stretched my toes out and desperately swung them. Could I at least scrape against the ground?

I saw Mario grin in the corner of my eye.

I glared back at him.

He pulled me up the rest of the way. Once he firmly set me down beneath the shelves, he said, "That was pretty easy." He let go of me and finished making his next sandwich. "I guess it helps that you're pretty light for an eighteen-year-old."

"Ow?" I hissed.

"You're fine, Sam," he said.

And he was right. He managed to not break anything or drop me.

Mario pulled the other cabinet door open.

I gasped and leaned towards the shelves. My thoughts about my pain evaporated.

A variety of snacks, ranging from double chocolate chip cookies to peanut butter and cheese crackers to several different potato chip brands, had been hidden behind the cabinet's shutter. Father even bought lunch and dinner type foods like macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes, and they mostly filled the upper shelves.

My hand reached for a can of pasta and marinara sauce.

Mario finished making yet another sandwich before next asking me, "Are you gonna eat anything?"

I held up the can.

He crossed his arms. His knife stuck out of his left hand. "Marinara _again_?" he said.

I lifted my palm up in a shrug. "I'm not sure," I said. "There's a lot in here."

He shook his head. "You wanna bring a hot bowl of that with you?" he questioned. Why not the crackers instead?"

"Huh?"

"I'm going," he said. He zippered up my bookbag. "You won't have time to eat that unless you want it uncooked."

"Fine," I grumbled. So much for a good, hot meal.

I shoved the can back where it had sat by one of the chip brands and grabbed a pack of peanut butter and cheese crackers. I tossed it into my bag and watched it get swallowed by two dozen sandwiches.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

I pulled my front door open and glanced around.

Every single house on my block had their lights off. The snow previously on the street and sidewalks had been cleared away, leaving behind only the large piles of white on everyone's lawns.

I attempted to zipper up my puffy winter coat. It had this _stupid_ habit of not going through the link at the bottom. It didn't matter whenever I raced to catch the bus, but tonight was different.

Mario walked out of the house wearing a small teal jacket. Well, to be honest, it would be small if his drastically different proportions didn't make it pool around his feet.

I couldn't help snickering at him.

"Again," he groaned, "not funny."

"You're the one who didn't want my old jacket," I reminded him. This time, I got lucky and my jacket's zipper clicked into the link. I pulled it up.

"Excuse me if I didn't wanna wear a purple thing with a horse face for a hood," he said. He fixed his hat so that it faced forward.

" _Excuse_ _me_ if I liked horses as a kid," I said, patting my pocket. My keys jingled around within it.

I giggled at the image of the small mustachioed man dressed as a unicorn and shut the front door closed. Before we raided my closets and found Father's old piece of trash, that old unicorn coat was the only one I had aside from what I currently wore. I specifically remember how the big horn, which lost its puffiness from years of going through the wash, flopped between Mario's eyes.

"Oh, _quit that_!" he yelled at me.

I tried the door as I continued snickering. Finding it locked, I said, _"Are you kidding, Mar? That's the best thing I've seen in a while."_

His face flushed a shade of bright red in the porch light.

 _"Was it the purple that put you off?"_ I asked him. _"I get that not everyone's a fan of Waluigi. Maybe we should find you a_ red _unicorn jacket instead?"_

"Stop," he said.

 _"Just saying."_ I put on my bag and stretched. _"Let's start our search in Havenland's forest. It's not that f_ _ar away from here."_

A mountain, or maybe I should call it an oversized hill, towered over the streets of Havenland. Countless evergreen trees dotted its landscape, and centered at its very top was an American flag that waved wildly in a harsh breeze.

That was, at the very least, what I knew to be there. It was too dark for anyone to see Mt. Havenland right now.

I heard rustling behind me. I glanced back at Mario.

He took a sandwich out of my bag. He unwrapped it and started nibbling away at his food.

I zipped my bag shut. _"Mar?"_

He glanced up at me and swallowed.

 _"Didn't you hear me?"_

He lowered the sandwich from his mouth. "What?" he said.

 _"Do you want to explore the forest?"_ I gestured with my head in its general direction. _"It'll take a while to get there and back since we'll be going through town, but it's a great start."_

"Let'sa go," he said, nodding.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

I have a confession to make: I probably haven't been through Havenland as often as somebody who lived here should be. When I come out of the house, it's usually to eat at the twenty-four-seven diner with my allowance and go straight back home.

I knew the town's layout by heart despite this. All the homes were located in the "outer ring" of the town while most of the businesses were in the "inner". The innermost part was the park and city hall, which was an open field aside from the playground all the way in the back.

Yeah. If I were a government official, I would want to keep the children away from me too. I often found them annoying, and so I felt grateful that Mario and I came out here late at night. That meant my ears wouldn't bleed from a bunch of kids' constant whining and screaming.

While I'm venting, I'd like to mention that I'm not at all athletic. We weren't even halfway to the forest yet and I felt tired. I'm willing to bet that Mar could've run to our destination and back by now if he went on alone.

As I sat at a picnic table, Mario was busy finishing the last of his sandwich stash. Once a wrapper was dealt with, he threw the foil that had encased it into a nearby garbage can.

I watched the stars from where I sat. Being such a small town in the middle of nowhere allowed Havenland to have a great view of them.

Mario finally finished his food. As he came back to the table, he looked up at the sky too and remarked, "Wow, it's different here,"

 _"Of course."_ _Duh._

He smiled regardless and sat down.

Now the two of us watched the dark sky that was littered with a rainbow of dots. The stars twinkled and pulsed at steady rates like heartbeats. A plane came loudly trailing across the sky but failed to ruin the moment for me. I found that I didn't care at all.

I folded my arms over the table in front of me and felt myself relax after what seemed like an eternity sitting there. The winter night air bit through my coat and into my skin.

One thing seemed different about tonight. I couldn't place what it was.

Was it because I was out of the house after what seemed like an eternity? Or was it that I was completely disobeying my dad, forgetting all about my homework, and going on an adventure? Could it be that Mario and his telepathic link with me changed my mood? Did our strange link go both ways?

Or was this because I was caught up in the moment?

Right here under the stars, I could care less.

My eyes found Mario's big blue ones. We stared at each other.

Like that, it clicked. I knew what was up. The stars were reminding me of things. They were things that were better off not said but came up anyway.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

 _You see, there were plenty of reasons why my dad and I moved here all those years back. One of them was that Father had had dreams of being an astronomer since he was a kid. The stars always appealed to him but living in New York, where there was tons of light pollution, got in the way of that. Not to mention that it was the Big Apple. Father hated big crowds and avoided walking in them whenever he could._

 _Father went to college to study astronomy after I was born. My family, consisting of my parents, grandparents, and myself, could support itself financially, but we never had enough money to move out of Brooklyn._

 _While we could take care of a lot of expenses, sometimes things… Happened. My father and his side of the family sometimes couldn't stand the people they lived with._

 _As for why this was the case, the reason primarily laid with my mom's dad. He wasn't what you could call the greatest person. He-_

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

 _No,_ I told myself. _Stop thinking about that bastard._

Mario and I glanced at each other again.

I ducked my head. _"Did… Did you catch any of that?"_

What if he had? What if he asked about what he saw? What would I tell him? _Why_ would I even tell him? I braced myself for an onslaught of these sorts of questions but voiced by him.

They never came. What he did ask was, "Any of what? Aside from the "b" word?"

I got up. _"Good."_ Those memories, in particular, were meant to stay buried. _"We should get a move on. I'm not sure how long we've been here-"_

"Half an hour."

 _"How would you know that?"_

He grinned and said, "I might've found _this_ hiding in a couch pillow today."

Mario held up a black phone. _My_ phone.

I snatched it from him.

The lock screen shone brightly upon my tired eyes. I snapped them closed and used my thumb to scout for the brightness setting scale.

I reopened my eyes when I sensed that the light's intensity had been lowered. A message underneath the time _1:00 am_ read, "Failed password attempts: 2".

 _"Don't tell me you tried breaking into it,"_ I said, frowning at Mario.

He lifted both of his gloves. "Neither attempt was mine," he said. "I swear."

 _"Yeah?"_ I said. How could I be so sure?

Mario rose to his feet. "Let's keep going. Maybe we'll get lucky and find a way home tonight." After a moment, he added, " _My h_ ome. Sorry."

 _"Whatever,"_ I said, giving the stars one last glance. A fleeting thought joined it, and this time I voiced it out loud for the world to hear. "Hey, Mar?"

"Yeah, Sam?" I heard him say.

"Suppose we _did_ find a way back to your world tonight. Should I tell my dad anything? You know, that I'm off on a crazy adventure before we leave?

"Would he believe me?"


	9. Exploring Mt Havenland

_Mario_

Sam said something. Or maybe she thought something. It was one of those. Whichever it was, I didn't hear her clearly enough.

I perked up from my last sandwich and asked, "What?"

 _"There's a convenience store here,"_ Sam said. _"Do you know what those are?"_

"Of course I do!" I said. "There's a bunch back in the Metro Kingdom. Cappy and I used to visit them all the time."

She rolled her eyes at me. _"Random, but okay."_

Now that she'd pointed it out, I squinted at the store across from us. It had a flat roof and white walls. The parking lot around it was all empty.

"Are we stopping again?" I asked.

How long had it been since we left the park? Ten minutes? Fifteen? I couldn't tell now that Sam had her phone back.

 _"No,"_ Sam said, _"why would we?"_

"Maybe we could stop to eat?"

She sighed. _"Shouldn't you digest those twelve sandwiches of yours first?"_

Maybe my next excuse would work? "What about we get drinks?" I asked. "I should wash them down."

 _"We don't need to go there,"_ she said. _"I have an extra water bottle or two if you need to hydrate."_

So I couldn't convince her. What if I were to…?

I stepped into the street.

She glared at me from the crosswalk. _"We're not going,"_ she said again. _"We're fine—"_

"Last one there's a rotten egg!" I shouted, bolting across the street.

Sam cursed loudly after me. It's probably best that I don't mention what she said. Well, maybe aside from her calling me an "idiot jaywalker".

I shrugged and headed for the store. Sam was gonna hav'ta get used to having little adventures if we were sticking together. I liked having excitement in my life. Or, uh, unlife? I guess it doesn't really matter.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"What's a kid like you doin' out 'ere?"

Sam threw two packets of double chocolate chip brownies down on the counter. "There's a late-night party down the street," she said. "I'm getting snacks."

The cashier nodded. "Ah, I see," he said. He typed into his cash register. "This all you're buyin'?"

"For me, yes."

Meanwhile, I wandered the aisles with my hood on and my hands in my sleeves. Not hard with how I wore Sam's dad's big, zipped-up coat.

 _"Keep your head down and your hood on,"_ Sam had told me. _"People will freak out if they see a coat without a body or face."_

So I kept it on while I studied the brands I found in the aisles.

"Did you find anything yet?" Sam asked me.

"No," I called, picking up a carton of yellow fish-shaped crackers. I didn't really read it before reaching back up to put it on the shelf.

"Who's that?" the cashier asked. "Your little brother?"

I spun around. "I'm not related to her at all," I said. "You— Um."

The cashier and Sam exchanged looks.

I snorted and turned away. I could've given that cashier a heart attack!

"He's touchy about his age," Sam said. "He's actually older than me."

"How old?" the cashier asked.

"Twenty...?"

Sam wasn't gonna elaborate on that?

I found myself spinning back to the two of them again. "FOUR!"

Sam's hands went up. "Whoa! I was general—"

I threw my carton of crackers at her.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The next thing I knew, we were trudging through the snow to the woods' edge.

Sam rubbed her hand. "Ow," she hissed. "Why did you get violent? That cashier could have called the cops."

"Sorry," I muttered, keeping my head down. "I shouldn't have been so annoyed by you getting my age wrong. That'd been pretty stupid on my part."

She snorted. "I don't need an apology," she said. "Just don't throw food at me next time."

She pulled out her phone. A few seconds later, a small light lit the path ahead of us.

"Can I apologize for apologizing?" I asked.

She stepped into the snow.

So far, there was nothing unusual. I only saw a bunch of trees and white snow.

"Stop saying sorry," Sam said. "It makes no sense."

"How?"

"Apologies are for those trying to excuse themselves for being stupid. I believe that after you do something, it's done, and that's that. It's up to other people if they take offense to your actions or not."

I grabbed a tree trunk to steady myself with. "Oh," I said.

We headed up a steep hill. As Sam and I climbed it, we had to grab at various tree trunks, branches, and whatever there was there, like rocks. Since we didn't have much trouble with it, I allowed myself to think about what she had told me.

Sam had an interesting philosophy to subscribe to, but what if you felt remorse for what you did? I mean, sure: actions can speak louder than words, but words are easy to communicate. You could promise to make a change.

So I told her that.

"Words have no meaning if you don't immediately back them up," she replied. "Actions show that you—"

The snow under Sam's feet gave way without warning. A pit swallowed her up, and I heard her scream—

The snow stopped eating her past her waistline.

"That you care?" I finished her sentence while cracking a smile. If that were me there, I might've been completely buried!

Her eyes narrowed. "Wor-words won't get me out of this stupid pit," she hissed. She shivered from the cold around her.

"Yeah, I guess you've gotta point," I said. I grabbed her hand and pulled her on top of the cold sheet of snow.

She immediately grabbed ahold of a tree. She continued to shiver. I heard her grumble to herself.

"Let's try avoiding that next time," I said.

Sam nodded.

I figured we'd hav'ta find something to help us climb if the snow was gonna be this fragile. Something like sticks, maybe? …Which is what I thought when I spotted a pile of sticks popping outta the snow.

I went over to pick up a pair.

I plopped one down in the snow by Sam. "We should use these for now on," I told her.

She nodded again and picked it up.

"Now let'sa go," I said, turning away.

"...Yay," Sam said. "Watch me die of hypothermia."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

We searched the base of the mountain for anything suspicious. I overturned rocks and searched between and behind trees. Mainly 'cause that's all that was there.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Sam asked me multiple times.

I eventually told her, "Nope. Not at all!"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

While searching under rocks, I found a hole in the ground.

"Hey!" I yelled over at Sam. "Check this out!"

She came running over. "What?" Sam said. "You found your pipe?"

"No," I said, "but I found _this_."

Sam's eyes widened. She swiped the small cotton bag from me. She ripped it open.

"O-oh…" she said, cringing. "Oh, _God."_

She smashed the bag against the snow. She turned and fled.

"What's wrong?" I asked, picking it up. I dumped the bag's contents out into the snow.

Strange black lumps with skinny black strings attached to them tumbled out of the bag. I paused when I got a better look at them.

" _That's_ what's wrong!" Sam screamed at me. "They're spiders, _and_ they're dead!"

"I'll, uh, give them a funeral," I said.

"Do whatever you want," she said. "I'm getting out of here." She raced away from me as fast as she could over the snow.

I gently put the bag down over the spiders. "Rest in peace," I squeaked out. Admittedly, I was getting grossed out by the crushed spiders myself.

I got up and ran after Sam.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

I climbed on to a tree that formed a bridge between a gap in the hill. I threw my arms out to keep my balance.

"That does _not_ look safe, Mario!" Sam yelled up at me.

"It's fine," I shouted back at her. "I'm only twenty feet off the ground."

"What if you fall?"

I stopped in the middle of the bridge. "Come on," I said, turning to face her, "you're forgetting that I'm probably dead. How can somebody die twice—"

The… Next thing I saw was Sam standing over me. She folded her arms.

"I told you so," she said.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

It took the sun peeking out from the horizon for me to realize that we'd found nothing extraordinary on Mount Havenland. I left kinda disappointed. Then again, I guess I shouldn't have expected anything. Warp pipes can be rare outside of the Mushroom Kingdom. They're usually _our_ mode of travel.

While we headed back to Sam's house, she wouldn't stop checking her phone.

"Five," she grumbled.

"Five what?" I said. "You mean the time?"

Sam refused to specify. She focused on walking ahead of me to the point that I had to run to keep up with her.

We discarded our walking sticks at the bottom of the hill. I'd say we gently put them down, but Sam threw hers at the nearest tree.

She proceeded to pick up the pace. Her hand tightly gripped one of her bookbag straps.

"What's going on?" I huffed, running after her. "Why are we rushing?"

"My dad could wake up within the hour," she said. "We need to get back home before he suspects a thing."

"When does he usually get up?" I asked.

She didn't answer me and stopped at a walk signal. Her eyes trained on the world ahead.

I'd be admiring it if we weren't hurrying. The cloudless morning sky made it seem like today was gonna be good if kinda cold still.

The walk signal changed. Sam marched across the street with me hot on her heels. If she was such in a rush, why'd she stop for it? There weren't many people out and about this morning.

"Hey!"

I guess I spoke too soon.

Sam froze up right as her feet found the sidewalk.

I found myself instinctively reaching into my pockets.

My hand dropped away from it. I berated myself. _No, bad Mario. You dunno if it's a threat._

Sam treated the voice like it was a threat despite what I told myself. Her head twisted around as she searched for the speaker.

"What are you doing?" the same voice yelled. "Why were you in the woods?"

Sam's pupils grew. She took a step back.

"Who is that?" I asked her.

"If you don't answer," the voice called, "I'm calling the police!"

Sam's confusion dissolved into panic. As in, she got this "deer-in-the-headlights" looking terror in her eyes. I had no time to react to her racing around the next street corner.

I glanced up at the voice.

The teenage boy several stories above us grinned and closed the blinds in his window.


	10. That Monday Morning

_Sam_

"What happened back there?"

"Who was that guy?"

"Why were you afraid of him?"

Mario didn't know when to shut up. It felt like it would take _forever_ to get home when his stupid questions popped up every minute or so.

I stepped into a street that lacked a walk signal.

"Sam, _please_ talk to me," Mario said, racing up beside me. "Holding it in's bad for you."

As if it would be that simple. Like sure, let me tell him my entire life story.

"It's okay," he told me. "I'll listen."

I gave him a quick glance over. That stupid red hat of his hung lopsided over his head. He quickened his pace to keep up with me.

"Do you know that guy from earlier?" he asked again.

The sidewalk continued rolling away under my feet.

I never got the chance to speak to people about my feelings. Father oftentimes was busy and psychologists, with all their stupid questions and no solutions, never worked for me. Nobody else that I knew ever wanted to hear me out unless you count Tabitha as a person.

 _Could_ I discuss them with Mario, of all people? Sure, he had been nothing but nice to me, but why would I burden him with _my_ problems? He had enough of his own issues at the moment.

Yet there he was jogging beside me. He waited for my response.

I opened my mouth. With an exhale, I said, "Forget it, Mar. Just forget it."

He didn't need to know everything about me. Couldn't I be entitled to some privacy?

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

I spent most of Sunday out like a light. This is what led into a long-dreaded Monday morning. And by "long-dreaded", I mean that it was time for school again. It was the start of yet another week of misery.

I came down the stairs from my room, already dressed for the day. My sneakers creaked the floor around them as I made my way to the kitchen.

 _"Maybe today will be normal,"_ I had told when I woke up. _"I'll be fine."_

Tabitha scrambled out of the hallway leading to our bathroom. I stopped and watched her fly across the floor to the living room.

 _Sure. "Normal". Since when was a day ever "normal" around here?_

 _Ever since I moved here to get peace and quiet,_ I answered myself.

 _There's no such thing as "peace and quiet". You're deluded, Sam._

Grunting, I walked into the kitchen and went up to the fridge. I ripped it open.

"Morning!"

The freezer's cold air slammed into my skin. Appropriately enough, I froze up.

That voice I heard... It was familiar, squeaky, _Italian_ …

Mario stood on one of the kitchen chairs, facing away from me. He held the frying pan in one hand.

"Morning," I said, grabbing ahold of the fridge door. _Y_ _ou scared me!_

I turned and dug through the fridge for my breakfast. I quickly settled on a container of what must have been last night's leftovers, mashed potatoes.

Mario put down his spatula. "Don't eat that," he said.

I looked between him and the container. "Why? Are you cooking again?"

"Yeah, and I might've overdone it." Mario moved to the side. There was a plate stacked high with steaming, fried batter behind him. An opened bottle of maple syrup stood by its side.

" _Pancakes?"_ I felt the container of potatoes slip from my fingers. It made a dull thump against the floor.

"That's not all," Mario said. He reached over and lifted the one at the top of the stack.

Dark spots covered the underside of the pancake. I did my best to clamp down on my watering mouth.

Chocolate. _Freaking._ Chips.

"They all ended up on the bottom," he told me. "I have no idea how that happened."

I rolled my eyes. _You tried._

He shrugged. "Yup."

I groaned internally. " _I wish that you would stop reading my mind."_

"I can't stop it," he said. He flipped the pancake currently on his frying pan. "Don't be so negative with yourself, by the way. It's not healthy."

I rolled my eyes at this. I settled into a seat at the table.

But c _hocolate chip_ pancakes for breakfast? I couldn't stop myself from watching the platter as Mario turned around to finish cooking.

* * *

 _Mario_

Sam stepped outta the house.

"Have a good day," I called after her. "See ya later!"

"Yeah, sure," she said. Then she shut the door behind her.

I went straight to the living room, holding a plate of leftover chocolate chip pancakes. I dropped it on the table in front of me.

 _"Maybe today will be normal,"_ I remembered her thinking _. "I'll be fine."_

Sam had been pretty unhappy this morning. It made me wonder about what really happened the other day.

 _I guess they don't like each other?_

Or maybe all there was to it was that she'd been startled by the kid's yelling. …Yeah. Maybe I'd been overthinking the matter. There wasn't any reason to annoy her about it.

The school bus' horn went off right when I reached for the TV remote. I turned to look out the window 'cause I might as well see Sam off.

She raced up to the bus. _Okay, geez. I'm coming._

Its' horn honked again. Like that other time, I could see the driver. The wrinkly old guy looked down at an object in his hand.

When Sam reached the bus, there was shouting. I witnessed a red-headed boy running across the street. Something seemed oddly familiar about him. Maybe he was one of the guys I saw boarding the bus the other day?

I leaned closer to the window.

Sam had a foot on the bus steps when the guy ran up next to her. She started lifting her other leg.

He also put his foot on the stairs.

The two of them exchanged glances. She scowled.

He had this blank expression on his face.

Sam's mouth opened. I'm not an expert in lip-reading, but I'm pretty sure she said "Move," to him. Either that, or she mooed.

I gave myself a facepalm. What in the world was I thinking? It was obvious it was that first one.

The guy ignored Sam. He lifted the rest of his weight on to the stairs.

Her scowl deepened. She made a move up to the next step.

In the middle of her step, the boy thrust his elbow out.

Sam hunched over. She grabbed at her ribs.

My mouth dropped open. _WHAT?_

She pushed against the stairway railing of the bus.

I pressed my face against the window. What kinda guy would elbow a girl that hard just to get on to the bus?

"Sam!" I yelled.

What was I thinking? She couldn't have possibly heard me from out there.

 _I have half a mind to kick your god damn ass right now, Dennis!_ she yelled in her mind.

I looked up at the driver. Maybe he'd notice what's up?

Nope. Their driver still fiddled with that thing in his hands.

Dennis climbed the other two steps into the bus while the driver was distracted. He smirked back at Sam.

She grasped her side. _YOU JERK!_ She took in a large breath. _I hate having to ride this stupid bus every day._

I cringed in sympathy. _Should you run out there and go with her? Nobody's gonna see you follow her._

 _She's leaving for school. Remember the last time you were there? You—_

 _I_ know _!_

Great. I'm blabbering to myself.

Sam limped on to the bus and outta sight. I could still hear her thoughts, though.

 _What the hell is wrong with you?! You didn't notice what that asshole did to me?_

"Oh boy." Maybe if I moved now, I could still catch up to her.

 _Hey! Quit laughing at me! What did I ever do to you, huh?_

Now she was being laughed at? By who?

Without being able to see what was going on, it made me think of when I was in school. We'd had our share of unsavory people back then. I remembered one guy who was a giant jerk when he was a kid, and for me, a guy who usually tries to see the brightest sides of everyone, that's saying something.

This particular bully I remember had been held back at least once, which made them older and tougher than the rest of the class. They often used their brute strength to terrorize the other kids, not caring if anybody got hurt. The playground was almost always taken hostage, and he worked completely alone to keep it that way. The worst part of all, nobody's school lunches were safe from their bottomless stomachs. They ate anything they found to be delicious in the cafeteria even if they had to fight a scrawny kid for it.

It was an absolutely terrible time in their life. It contributed as to why they'd dropped outta school and nearly fell into a depression.

Coming back around to the present, I tried squinting through the bus windows. That didn't help me; they were too dark to see through.

 _Why do I still put up with this shit?_ Sam said.

I leaped off the couch, scooping up my boots along the way. My bare hand brushed through my slimy-feeling hair. When was the last time I'd taken a shower? _Gross._

Once I grabbed my hat, I threw open the front door and slammed shut it behind me. I hopped over the porch steps.

The bus started moving. I guess that driver finished whatever he had been doing.

"Wait!" I yelled. "Stop!"

Would Sam have warned the bus driver if she could hear me? I wouldn't know since the bus flew off like a rocket.

The vehicle blew past the stop sign. A car horn blared in the intersection ahead.

My jaw dropped open. I'm a fast runner; I may be able to get to Darklands from Peach's castle in about a day, but I wouldn't be able to keep up with a bus going far over the speed limit here. I didn't even know the way to Sam's school.

I collapsed on to the curb. At this point, all I could do was wish that Sam had a good day. She needed it after what Dennis did to her.

I watched the world around me. One of Sam's neighbors a few houses down came out and got into a minivan. While she pulled outta her driveway, a man walked a dog by me. Neither of them noticed me as they went passed.

So what was I supposed to do today? I guess I could try playing some _3D World._ Sam and I stopped after we made it to the fifth part of the map. It'd be interesting to see how they interpreted the rest of my adventure.

I got up and walked back towards the house. A warm, tingly feeling enveloped my chest. I stopped walking and grasped my overalls, confused.

My feet started to slide. I gasped and tried to hold them in place. Was I standing on a patch of ice?

When I looked down, I found that wasn't it. I was on the bare sidewalk and my feet were somehow dragging themselves forward. _Somehow_

I tried buckling my legs tighter.

That didn't help. I kept sliding.

I dug my boots into the ground.

That still didn't work. What was going on?!

The sliding got faster. I yelped, trying to keep my balance as I flew forward. Forget the bus being a rocket, I was becoming one!

I flew passed the guy with the dog. Neither of them looked up. The dog's leash didn't twitch as I passed through it.

It was when the invisible force dragged me to the stop sign and made the turn Sam's bus made earlier that I realized it probably been taking me after her. So maybe I could go after Sam this way! But why was it even happening?

The invisible force didn't let me finish thinking. It tugged harder and I went faster.

I squealed and lost my balance. I fell in the middle of the street.

The force didn't care. It still dragged me.

Now I saw the bright yellow bus in front of me. It was speeding, but I was catching up quick. Aaaaand it looked like I was about to slam into the back of the bus.

"Oh geez!" I yelled.

I shut my eyes, bracing for impact. I expected to hit it at full force and end up hurting all over.

Ten seconds passed. I knew I should've hit the back door by now. I screamed anyway.

" _Whoever's screaming,"_ a voice ahead of me bellowed, _"shut up!_ _"_

I gasped and opened my eyes. In front of me was a leathery wall— No, that wasn't it. Was that the back of a seat?

That had to be it. I was sitting on something of the same material.

I sat up straight. Somehow, I felt way taller. I bent one of my arms. They seemed longer than usual. My hands looked skinnier too.

I glanced at the window. I recognized the face reflected back at me aside from her new blue eyes. She had brown hair with tiny curls at the end and a much smaller nose.

She was Sam. Or, actually, _I_ was her, and she was going back to school.

 _Oh no._


	11. The Bus to Havenland High

_Mario_

I pressed Sam's bag to my, uh, chest.

This was bad. Wait, no. This was _worse_ than bad. If Sam didn't come back to her senses soon, I'd be going back to school in her place. And what could I do to get outta _this?_ Hide until I could flee back to Sam's house? Hit my head on a wall hoping that she woke up again?

I took a deep breath. I couldn't panic here in front of all these kids. It was bad enough I was a girl right now.

So I opened Sam's bag. If I were stuck like this, I'd probably have to go to her classes. I might as well find her schedule.

I pulled out one of the three binders in the largest pocket. It read "Astronomy" on the front. My gut told me I wouldn't find the schedule, if she even had one, there. I opened it anyway and leafed through the notes:

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

 _Order of the planets: Mercury (Closest to the sun, therefore the fastest to go around it), Venus (Hottest planet due to its atmospheric gases), Earth (Our planet), Mars (The red planet), Jupiter (Largest planet in our solar system), Saturn, Uranus ('Kay), and Neptune._

 _Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet back in 2006._

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

That… Didn't help in the slightest. I tossed the binder back in the bag. Then I opened the next pocket. It had two folders in it labeled "English" and "Health". So more subjects. I don't think she'd hide a class schedule in those.

I opened the third pocket. Sam's phone and a set of keys were the only things in there. I shut it closed and yanked open the smallest pocket's zipper.

Inside this pocket were a few pieces of paper. I unfolded one of them:

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

GRADES AS Of JANUARY 31st:

(Minimum to pass: 65)

Homeroom (8:00-8:50) - _Special Occasions Only_

Period 1 (8:00-8:50) - FREE (FREE) - N/A

Period 2 (9:00-9:50) - English (Room 102) - 64

Period 3 (10:00-10:50) - Western Civilization (Room 210) - 60

Period 4 (11:00-11:50) - Algebra III (Room 107) - 63

Period 5 (12:00-12:50) - LUNCH (Cafeteria/School Grounds) - N/A

Period 6 (1:00-1:50) - Astronomy (Room 204) - 73

Period 7 (2:00-2:50) - Gym (Gym) - 65 - Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Period 7 (2:00-2:50) - Health (Room 101) - 80 - Tuesday, Thursday

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

Sam's dad had been right when he said she could flop outta school. Hey, though. At least I could work off of this.

I zippered the bag back up.

"Could I, uh, ask you something, Sammy?"

I perked up. "Yeah?"

A boy across the aisle from me closed the top some sort of dark-colored device. He put it away in his coat pocket.

"You're wearing an oversized hat," he said. "Do you _want_ to be made fun of?"

My eyes drifted upwards. I noticed the shelf of red there. The guy had a point. My hat was, funnily enough, way bigger than Sam's head. I reached up and took it off.

"...Oh."

"What?" I asked.

"Sorry," the boy said, "I was sure that your stupid hat meant something else."

I looked down at the red "M" emblem on the front of my hat. "Meant something else'?" Maybe he referred to Diddy Kong? Assuming these guys knew about Donkey and his friends, too.

"Forget it," he said. He turned away.

"No, tell me."

His mouth opened, then closed. Maybe he hadn't expected me to talk back? Well, Sam might've not, but I'm different. I couldn't help myself.

He brushed a lock of black hair from his eyes. "I already told you," he said. "Forget it."

"You're right about it being kinda big on me," I said. "Thanks for pointing that out."

I stored my hat in the bookbag pocket with the folders.

"Sammy, sounding like Super Mario and wearing his hat won't win you any fans."

Naturally, I replied with, "Maybe 'cause I _am_ him?"

The boy furrowed his brows.

And that's when I realized what I told him. I pushed myself closer to the wall and laughed quietly. _Whoops._

He looked away from me. He muttered a thing or two under his breath.

I glanced out my window. This was gonna be a _long_ day.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Time to get off, ya stinkers," the bus driver yelled.

People started piling off the bus. They didn't have any structure for how they left. A lot of them pushed their way past others. None of them cared if they shoved a younger kid back into their seat as long as they could leave.

I saw this first-hand when I found myself following a boy with a surprising amount of muscle. He pushed passed a tiny girl. He didn't stop or apologize. He got off the bus.

I quickly came up from behind him. I offered my hand to the girl—

She used the wall to regain her balance. "I'm fine," she told me.

I stepped back to let her squeeze by me.

Somebody else behind me groaned.

I rolled my eyes and kept walking. Hey, sorry if I tried to be courteous. It seemed to be in short supply here.

Once I got off the bus myself, I got a good look at the brown brick building in front of me. It towered over me by about three stories. A red and white striped flag with some blue in a corner swung around at its top. I squinted for a better look at it and saw a bunch of white stars inside of the blue square.

The flag's design genuinely made me curious. Maybe Sam could tell me about it once she woke up? If she woke up _at all_. What if I _did_ hav'ta hit my head so that she could come back?

No, I couldn't think that way. She had to wake up soon. Right?


	12. A Typical School Day

_Mario_

Sam was lucky. According to her class schedule, she got two free periods every day. When I went to school, they never gave us any breaks. It was all 'you need a good education at all hours of the day' and 'lunch isn't supposed to be that long!' No wonder why I suffered through it.

But hey. Maybe if I got lucky, the day would fly by. It could turn out good too.

"Let'sa go," I mumbled under my breath.

* * *

 _FREE_

The first bell rang. I sat down at a table in the commons. I put Sam's bag down in the seat next to me.

I spent the next while scanning over Sam's notes. She'd been reading a book in English class called _The Hobbit_. From what I gathered, it sounded kinda cool. A bunch of dwarves, a wizard, and the book's namesake, a hobbit, whatever that is, go on an adventure to steal treasure from a dragon.

I found the book on her binder's back sleeve. The illustration on its cover was pretty simple. There were a bunch of mountains in the forefront and a red sun in the back. Two golden birds soared overhead the mountains.

I cracked it open and flipped through the first few pages. There was a map that I skipped over since half of the symbols on it made no sense. After that was some standard stuff, like two tables of contents for chapters and illustrations and a note about runic symbols on the map. That last one would've been useful if it had come earlier!

I ended up skipping the thing about runes. Would an English class honestly be testing for those? I'd guess not.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"So Bilbo's being visited by that Gandalf wizard and the dwarves," I muttered to myself. "...Why are they singing? And why are there so many dwarves?"

So, um… I was "enjoying" this book. I was already having trouble remembering all these characters' names. Were any of these guys gonna be important down the road? Why should I care about them? Why did Sam even get assigned this kinda stuff? And since when did stories include songs that you can't hear the music to?

A couple of chairs screeched against the floor.

My eyebrows rose. I set my book down.

Two guys sat down at my table. The first might've been a lot taller than me if I'd been standing. His red hair hung loosely behind him. He had a face swamped in freckles.

The other guy brushed a tuft of brown hair outta his eyes. He folded his arms, then laid his head in them.

"Hi?" I said.

They ignored me greeting them. They continued sitting there.

I frowned.

Both of them wore blank expressions on their faces. The redhead's eyes darted to his friends. He bit his lip.

We sat there in uncomfortable silence.

I finally reached over to grab my bag. As soon as I had it in my lap-

"Morning, Sammy," a third guy said. He settled into that chair. "Thank you very much."

Okay, who were these people? Did Sam know them? Were they friends of hers?

The first guy leaned towards me. He got close to my face.

I pulled away from him.

"So you decided to wear contacts today?" he asked. "That's a shame. I like the color brown."

"Can I ask why ya'll are sitting here?" I said.

The second guy cracked a big smile. "That's the question we want to ask you. This is _our_ table."

"I got here first," I said.

The first one broke into laughter. He jabbed his elbow into his friend's side.

His friend recoiled. He put a hand where he got hit.

"Wow, you're stupid," the third guy said. "This is _our_ spot. Didn't Dennis tell you that last week?"

"No…" I said.

I looked at his friend. Things suddenly made a lot more sense. Somebody elbowed Sam earlier today as Dennis did to his friend. That kid had to be him.

"Wow," the second guy snickered, "you're not normally this dense, Sammy."

"Then again," the other one spoke up, "she told me that she wasn't Sammy."

The second tilted his head. "Oh, right. You told me she believes she's _Super Mario?"_

I cringed. I'm not gonna lie, I made a pretty bad move there. It might become another thing in the pile for Sam to get upset over.

Dennis blinked a few times. "What," he said.

The third guy shrugged. "Yep."

"What?" Dennis said again.

 _What've I done?_

"Seriously," he repeated. _"What?"_

"Yeah. She wants to be a forty-year-old Italian man. Don't know why; maybe she has a thing for—"

I brought my fist down on the hard wooden table. It stung from the impact, but I could ignore it. I've handled worse things.

"I'm twenty-four!" I shouted. "Why doesn't anybody ever get it right? Is it my 'stache?" I pointed at my face. "Is it?"

"I believe we've hit a nerve!" the second guy cackled. "Great job, Rick."

"Uh…" Rick said. "Table?"

We all looked down. Two halves of a wooden table laid in pieces in front of me.

"Oh, wow…" somebody mumbled.

My jaw flopped open.

"Sammy, you don't have a "stache"," the still-unnamed guy said. "You're a girl."

A tiny crowd gathered around us. They stared between our group and the broken table.

Rick fidgeted around in his seat. He kept his head down.

I took a big breath in. I picked up Sam's bag. "Gotta go," I squeaked. "Be seeing ya."

I stood up and walked off.

The small crowd parted around me. People in it whispered to each other.

I pushed the metal door at the closest hallway open. Then I went through. I slumped against the wall.

To say Sam's not gonna be happy when she wakes up is an understatement.

* * *

 _ENGLISH_

"Ramona Abington?"

"Here."

"Ashley Addison?"

"I'm here!"

"Lewis Ainger?"

"Here!"

"Sammy Brown?"

Nobody answered the teacher.

I shuffled through Sam's papers.

"Sammy?"

She called that name again. That couldn't be _me_ , right? Sam told me her name was, obviously, Sam. I assumed Sammy was a pet name those guys from earlier, and her dad, gave her.

I sat up anyway. "Yeah?" I said.

The teacher up front folded her arms. "What have I told you about not paying attention?"

"'Pay attention?'" I guessed.

"Yes," she said. "I hope you will during your make-up test."

Sam's papers slipped from my hands. They floated to the floor around me.

A _make-up test?_ Great, I was gonna fail it! This may sound way uncharacteristic of me, but school is something I _hate!_ I only read partway through _The Hobbit_ 's first chapter with all the dwarves and the singing and whatnot 'cause of that whole incident back in the commons.

Okay. Calm down, Mario. We don't wanna go crazy again.

…

…

…So Sam's actual name is _Sammy?_ Who knew?

* * *

 _WESTERN CIVILIZATION_

"I messed up," I said. "Sorry, Sam."

I'd been ready to hit my head on my desk when the teacher for this period walked into the room.

"Morning, class!" he said. He looked around the room until his eyes landed on me. They stayed there.

I grabbed the binder for this period. I sat up. "Yeah?" I said.

"Sam?" he said. "I was wondering if you could take last week's test."

I actually smacked my head against my desk. It wasn't hard; I didn't want to hurt Sam's body, but I had to.

 _DARN IT!_

* * *

 _LUNCH_

 _('CAUSE WHO LIKES MATH?)_

I made it to lunch. _Thank the stars._ Not only that, but I had two classes left. After the last few classes I went to, I felt drained. When would Sam come to her senses? I _needed_ her, at this point.

I settled down at a table with a burger on my plate. If Sam's card balance hadn't been low, I would've gotten fries with it. Hey, whatever. I could live with one burger for a few hours.

I bit into my lunch. Ketchup spilled out onto my hand.

Today just hadn't been my day. I wiped the ketchup off with a napkin. I made a face when I found some of its stickiness still there. I grabbed another napkin to continue working on those spots.

A strange buzz filled the room while I worked. I looked up at an intercom on the wall behind me.

"Is this thing on?"

Somebody in the lunch crowd snorted.

A couple of booms came from the intercom. The woman on the other end said, "Ah, okay. Thank you." There was some shuffling around of papers. She cleared her throat. "May we, um, please see Sammy Brown at the principal's office?"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"So, Ms. Brown," an older man said, "we've received an anonymous tip that you were the one who destroyed a table in the commons. Is this true?"

I lowered my head. "...Yes, sir," I said.

"As much as I admire your skill in karate, you'll be serving detention for the rest of the week." He folded his hands over the table. "Oh, and we'll be notifying your parents and or legal guardians shortly."

"Yes, sir," I answered.

 _Great._ As if I couldn't upset Sam even more. I'll be lucky if the least she did was kick me outta the house again.

* * *

ASTRONOMY

"Sam?"

The teacher for this period came up to me. He held a small slip of paper.

I deflated when he put it down in front of me. "Oh no."

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

Astronomy Research Project # 3:

DUE: March 1st

OBJECTIVE: Research a planet of your choice (Cannot be a planet you've chosen already). Describe your planet, what moons (If any) it has, and what star it orbits. Go into detail as to what they are made of (You may only speculate if not enough research has been done on that front).

Points will be deducted for inaccuracy, as they will be for blatant spelling and grammar mistakes.

EXTRA CREDIT: Do two planets.

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

"What do you mean "oh no"?'' the teacher said. "Last I checked, you did great on these projects."

I found myself smiling for once. "I thought it was another test," I said.

He grinned back. "Tell your dad I said hi."

My smile instantly dropped. My head smacked against a table for the fifth time that day.

The rest of astronomy went alright. All I had to do was listen to the teacher as he went on and on. I almost dozed off halfway through, though.

* * *

 _GYM_

NOTHING. HAPPENED. Gym class isn't supposed to be about sitting around on the bleachers. I understand that sometimes you need to call in substitute teachers, but they should at least give us something athletic to do!

Oh well. It was probably a good thing. They didn't force me into the girl's locker room. That would've been…

Yeah.

* * *

 _FREE (AT LAST)_

The final bell rang. I grabbed Sam's stuff and zipped outside to the bus.

I collapsed into a seat. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Another minute in there and I could've _exploded._

I glanced out my left-hand window, which I chose so that I didn't hav'ta see that school again. Didn't mean I could escape the chatter. I pushed myself against the window while trying my best to not be noticeable.

People sat down all around me.

"Did you hear about the girl who sliced through one of the common room tables?" a girl said.

"Yeah. Didn't she also say something stupid?" her friend said.

"All I heard about was the table."

Another conversation: "What was her name? Tammy?"

"Pretty sure she goes by Sam. Or is it Sammy? I don't know."

"No, it's Maria."

"No, Mario. Rick specifically said she thinks she's Mario."

"No, Luigi."

"No, Waluigi!" a third voice cut in.

"...Frank, I think you may be on to something."

"Since when did people identify themselves as video game characters?" another person added. "None of them are _real."_

"Hey! I identify as Ridley and I take offense to that."

The four of them laughed.

Great. Not only did I have a terrible day, but I've also started a rumor mill.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Halfway through the bus ride, a warm feeling emerged from my chest. It felt a lot like when I got pulled to the bus earlier.

I cringed. I grabbed at my chest. Why did it feel painful? Was Sam coming back? _Please let that be true._ I needed her to wake up.

The pain got worse. I felt grateful that nobody had sat across from me. They'd probably think I'm having a heart attack!

A thought suddenly echoed in my mind. It didn't belong to me. _"What… Happened?"_

"Sam?" I said, opening my eyes. I clawed for my face. I grabbed something large and felt under it. I gasped.

I had my 'stache back! That meant I was me again! _Yes!_

 _Why is everything dark? Where am I?_

I looked up. "Sam!" I shouted.

Her eyes were closed. Her thoughts echoed loud and clear. _"Wha-what?"_

"Get up!"

Sam suddenly lurched forward. She shivered. She curled and uncurled her hands. Then she looked down.


	13. The Aftermath

_Mario_

" _Get. Off. My lap."_

I glanced down. I felt my face burn as I saw my legs dangling off Sam's side.

"O-oh," I whimpered. "Geez."

Sam groaned and pushed against my back. " _Please?"_

I didn't move.

" _Things are bad enough now,"_ she groused.

"You already know?" I asked, my voice barely rising above a whisper.

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

" _WILL YOU QUIT THAT?" a voice bellowed. "GOD, YOU ARE SO ANNOYING."_

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

" _I'M TWENTY GODS DARNIT FOUR!"_

 _Rick gasped._

" _Why doesn't anybody ever get it right? Is it my 'stache? Is it?"_

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

" _Sammy Brown? ...Sammy?"_

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

" _So, Ms. Brown. We've received an anonymous tip that you were the one who destroyed a table in the commons. Is this true?"_

" _Yes, sir."_

" _As much as I admire your skill in karate, you will have detention during lunctime for the rest of the week."_

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

" _Yes,"_ she bluntly replied.

"I-I…"

Sam pushed against my back again.

I slid off her lap and into the seat next to her.

She crossed one leg over the other as she turned away from me.

We rode the rest of the way home in silence.

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Sam slammed the front door shut. She kicked off her sneakers. Her bookbag and coat fell to the floor.

Meanwhile, I braced myself for the mother of all meltdowns. I edged over towards the living room.

She bent back down for her bookbag and tossed it over her right shoulder. Her hand tightly squeezed its strap.

I stopped at the archway that marked the living room's entrance. I searched along the wall for the light switch.

The wooden stairs behind me creaked. I looked over at them.

She was climbing up to her room.

I frowned as I watched her go. Wasn't this the part where Sam would blow up on me?

Maybe I shouldn't ask this in case I jinx myself, but _why_ was she leaving?

"Hey," I said.

She didn't reply. She reached the first flight.

"Where are you going?"

She stopped walking. Her head swiveled towards me.

I quickly regretted asking her that question.

Her eyes hardened.

I slowly made my way over the staircase. I went up a step.

She stood there at the top. She still glared at me.

I said, "Sam, what's wro-"

"Just leave me alone."

Before I had the chance to respond, she turned on her heel and flew up the rest of the steps.

The bedroom door slammed shut behind her.

 _Sam_

As soon as I had locked myself in, I ran to my bed and leapt into it.

My bookbag whacked me in the back as I collapsed on to the mattress.

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

 _I moved up to the next step. There was no way I was letting this ass get a seat before me._

 _Something jabbed itself into my side._

 _Pain exploded from it. I gasped and hunched over. "_ Ow!"

Dennis pulled his elbow away.

Is this how we're playing, Dennis? _I thought._ I have half a mind to kick your ass right now.

He only smirked at me as he climbed the rest of the way up.

YOU JERK! _I swallowed some air as I grasped my throbbing side._ I hate having to ride this stupid bus everyday.

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

I shoved my face into my pillow.

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

" _Father could wake up within the hour," I told Mario. "We need to get home before he suspects a thing."_

" _When_ does _he usually get up?" Mario asked._

 _We stopped at a walk signal. However, that wasn't what I was focused on._

 _The sun had begun rising. With no clouds to help, I had to squint at it._

 _I looked back down as the signal changed to walk. I went across the street._

 _Mario's boots hit the ground behind me._

" _Hey!"_

 _I stopped._

 _That voice. It couldn't be…_

 _My body tensed as I looked around._

" _What are you doing? Why are you running from the woods?"_

 _I stepped back._

" _Who is that?" Mario asked me._

" _Hello?" the voice shouted. "If you don't answer, I'm calling the police!"_

 _The police?! What the-_ No.

 _I had found the speaker. It was a boy my age, whose head was sticking out his window. He was one of Dennis' stupid friends, Theo._

 _He smirked at me. Oh gods, did he live here?_

 _I froze up._

 _We stood there for a minute or so._

 _It was then that my courage found me. I zipped around to the next street corner and left Mario behind._

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

My angry cry was muffled by the pillow.

There was creaking on the stairs. Then a knock on my door. Three soft pounds.

I turned towards the wall. " _Mario, I know that's you."_

Another three pounds.

" _Leave,"_ I said.

A few minutes passed after that.

Once I was sure he was gone, I tossed off my bookbag and wrapped my blanket around me.

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Some time later, I heard a "Meow" from underneath me. I rolled away from the wall just as Tabitha emerged from under the bed carrying a toy mouse in her mouth.

"Hey," I whispered to her. "I didn't know you were here."

She bit down hard on the toy mouse.

It squeaked.

I tossed my hand over the side and stroked the top of the cat's head.

She purred.

I patted the mattress.

The cat leapt up next to me. She then spat the mouse out and walked up to my face.

We stared into each other's eyes.

And before long, I was closing mine again.

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

I awoke to a large hand shaking my back.

Tabitha was gone. In her place was my dad.

"Get up," he demanded.

"No," I growled, rolling away. "I already know what I did wrong. Go away."

He shook me some more.

When I didn't respond, he stood up.

I opened my eyes.

Father had grabbed my phone from the dresser next to my bed. He now walked away with it.

Before I could protest, the bedroom door slammed shut behind him.

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

When I was disturbed again, it was because of a third round of three knocks on the door.

I sat up. " _Oh great. It's you again."_

He didn't talk back.

The sun had set an hour ago. That left me squinting at the door.

Something slid underneath it and made a scratchy noise against the wooden floor.

I squinted more.

It was a piece of paper. I mean, I think it was?

I turned on the lamp by my nightstand and hopped out of bed. I walked over to the door.

The thing on the floor _was_ a paper. I sat down next to the door and picked it up.

It took some time to decipher the chicken scratch, but I was sure that it read:

 **(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)**

 _Hey Sam._

 _I wanted to check on you._

 _I feel pretty bad about what happened today. Neither of us had expected me to possess you, and going by what I've been seeing from your thoughts, some of my actions while doing so were inexcusable._

 _I guess I should've kept quiet. I should've walked away instead of engaging those guys you hate so much. And I_ really _shouldn't have gotten so mad when those guys started speculating on my age._

 _You gotta admit, that's a strange berserk button of mine. Then again, I didn't often have people questioning how old I am back home._

 _AND OF COURSE I GO OFF-TOPIC. I am NOT writing a fifth draft of this._

 _Ugh. Sorry._

 _Anyway, I haven't heard any of your thoughts for the past couple of hours. Have you been sleeping? Are you still gonna be asleep when I give this to you?_

 _Guess there's only one way to find out. I'm gonna slide this under the door now._

 _Hope you're up,_

 _Mar_

 _P.S. Your dad's terrible at hiding things. He put your phone under one of the couch cushions this time._

 **(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)**

As I finished reading, a large, chubby, and ungloved hand came in from beneath the door. In its grip was a small pen.

The hand dropped the pen. It retreated somewhat. Then its pointer finger flew forward and flicked the pen at me.

The pen lightly smacked against my side. I frowned at it.

Red. It was red. Of course it was red.

I dropped the paper.

The figure on the other side of the door shifted. I could see his green and white-striped socks behind the crack on the bottom.

Sighing, I laid down on the floor.

He stopped moving. He must've heard the wood boards in my room creaking.

I uncapped the pen.

Since he didn't seem to get it even with my mind linked to his, I was going to write back to tell him to screw off. Maybe that would finally drive him away so that I could sleep in peace.

Against my better judgement, I started working on my note to him.


	14. Passing Notes

_Sam_

 **(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)**

 _Mario,_

 _I already told you that I don't want to be bothered. I'm going back to bed._

 _Sam_

 **(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)**

I capped the pen back up and slid both it and the paper back under the door.

He picked them up.

I rose to my knees. I telepathically called out to him, " _Good night-"_

Mario's pen came flying from under the door. It smacked against my kneecap.

The paper was back too. The message hurriedly scribbled on it was, " _How are you?"_

I laid back down on the floor and grabbed the pen. I wrote back, " _What did I just say?"_

I rolled the pen back to him, followed by the paper.

Just as the paper went under the door, his hand slapped down on it.

Mine involuntarily pulled back.

He slid it back into the room.

' _How are you?'_ was circled this time.

I stared at it. Just… Stared at it.

He was persistent. I'll give him that.

I picked up the pen that he had tossed back at me and wrote, " _Why would you care?'_

I passed it back to him.

His response? "' _Cause I've seen what's happened to you these past couple of days. I wanna know what's going on."_

" _Shouldn't you be more worried about finding a way home?"_

" _Yes, and I've been wondering when's the next time we're gonna go looking."_

" _So why aren't you thinking about that right now?"_

" _Because I just spent a day in your shoes. When you ran off afterwards, it made me worried about_ you _."_

I paused. I found myself rereading his note. _Worried… About me?_

Mario pulled the paper back towards him.

When he gave it back, it said, " _And I've said it before: it's bad for you to be holding anything in. It's okay to talk to me. Or ya know, write to me. Whichever one you want._

" _Either way, I'll listen."_

" _You can't dig around in my head for the answer?"_ As invading that would be?

Why couldn't I just be left alone?

" _I only see your current thoughts,"_ he wrote. " _Which you're pretty good at hiding, by the way."_

" _Fortunately."_

The paper sat under the door between us for another long moment. Mario took it again when I didn't move to write anything else down.

" _Did you have dinner?"_ he asked. " _Your dad made lasagna tonight, and I know he went upstairs to your room to try and talk to you. Did he bring a plate?"_

" _No."_

" _You should come downstairs. It's still warm."_

" _I'm not hungry."_

It was a minute before he roughly shoved the paper back at me.

"WHAT?!" the crinkled sheet read. " _You're not hungry? It's dinner! It's a mandatory meal!"_

" _I remember being told that_ breakfast _is the most important meal of the day."_

" _But_ dinner _!"_

I shook my head as I wrote down, " _No thanks."_

We had completely filled the front and back of the page by now. When it was coupled with his silence, I wondered if that was the end of it.

At that exact moment, I heard a rip.

 _Damn it,_ I thought. _He has more paper._

" _I have plenty,"_ his next note, which accompanied the first, said. " _I'm using that notepad from when we'd thought you'd had a concussion."_

Oh, right. I'd forgotten about that.

" _How about I get your food?"_ he asked.

" _I'd have to let you in, so no."_

" _Come on."_

" _No."_

I gave the note back to him.

My stomach chose that as good time to growl in protest.

I laid a hand on it. _Oh, shut up!_

Mario's laughter suddenly pierced the previously quiet air. He pulled the note away.

I crossed my arms and laid my head in them. _Fine, I'll admit it. I'm hungry._

" _How much do you want?"_

I looked through the crack on the bottom.

Mario's toes in his socks wriggled in front of my nose.

I scrunched it up. When was the last time he had washed them?

Now I took the time to reread the messages on both sheets of paper. I came to a stop at the part from before we had switched to the next sheet.

" _When you ran off afterwards, it made me worried about_ you _,"_ he had said. " _And I've said it before: it's bad for you to be holding anything in. It's okay to talk to me…_

" _I'll listen."_

Spurred on by the moment, I put the pen to paper once more.

" _I don't really want dinner. I want to-"_

My stomach protested against that thought again. _No. You need to eat._

I crossed out what I had been trying to write.

" _I guess I'll take whatever's left, Mar-"_

 _Not that either,_ the small voice in my head said.

I crossed that out as well.

" _I'll co-"_

 _NO, NO, NO!_ the voice yelled at me.

I dropped the pen. I pushed it and the note under the door.

Once his hand had taken the paper back, I rose to my feet and went for the doorknob.

Mario looked up as the door screeched open. His pen left a messy red trail over whatever he had been writing.

"Let's go downstairs, Mar," I said. "I'm eating."

And more importantly, do what he's been wanting me to.

Talk.

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

"I have to ask, why did you slip me a note instead of shouting through the door? Wouldn't that have been easier?"

"'Cause that wouldn't have made you talk," Mario said. His pace quickened to keep up with mine as we entered the kitchen. "You wouldn't have gotten out of bed."

"True."

On the counter was a casserole dish.

I glanced at it, and then Mario.

Hunger burned in his eyes. Knowing him, that was probably why most of the lasagna was gone.

I reached up for the cabinet's knob. I expected there to a paradise waiting for me inside.

 _Mac and cheese,_ my mind was thinking. _Or heck, maybe a bag of white rice? I should check the fridge while I'm at it._ My mouth watered as I thought of the possibilities.

I yanked the shutter open, prepared to take the first thing my eyes landed on.

Instead, they widened.

Mario gasped. His face paled.

There was nothing on the bottom shelf this time around. Nothing, but another note.

And all I could do was flinch away as the plumber cried,

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...!"


	15. Opening Up

_Sam_

The note on the bare shelf was addressed to me in cursive writing. I frowned as I tried my best to decipher it:

 **(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)**

 _I haven't been serious about grounding you, have I?_

 _Until your grades improve, I'm taking away both your phone and the snacks. I expect you to be in your room catching up on late work unless I call for you or you have to leave for school._

 _I don't want to see you fail out. I'd hate to watch you to end up like your mother._

 _Oh, and before I forget, I found your "history essay" earlier. The idea of Super Mario being dead and a "familiar" to you is… Quite strange. Do you eventually plan to write this fanfic?_

 _Whatever it is that you're doing, I hope you get back to writing the essay soon. Every day it's late is another day that you lose a point._

 _Dad_

 **(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)**

"What's a 'fanfic'?" Mar asked.

" _You wouldn't want to know,"_ I said.

I frowned at the page and set it down.

"Why not?"

" _Because people like to write stories about you and your friends."_

He rose his eyebrows and asked, "Is this related to those _Nintendo_ games?"

" _Sort of, but most are worse in quality. You really wouldn't want to know what goes on in a lot of them."_

"Too late. I'm interested."

I grabbed an empty plate and began scrapping the rest of the lasagna on to it. " _You shouldn't be. It'd be bad for your mental health."_ _And I thought we were here to discuss me._

"Fine, sorry," Mario sighed. He eyed the food. "Guess we'll tackle that later."

 _Thank goodness,_ I thought, exhaling. " _Now let's go back upstairs-_ WHAT THE FUCK?!"

A tall man in blue and white-striped pajamas had been standing right behind me. He was holding the house phone.

It was Father.

"H-hi…?" I said.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me forward.

Eyes widening, I grasped my plate as best as I could while he dragged me out of the kitchen.

Mario, wearing a similar expression to mine, ran after us.

The three of us walked back to the stairs.

Father released me and crossed his arms.

My now-free hand now helped to steady my plate.

Mario came up next to me. He was holding a small silvery object. A fork, maybe?

"I know about the table at school," Father said. "You broke it."

"So," I said, "they called you?"

He nodded.

"And I can't leave the room? Like, at all?"

"Not unless you're using the bathroom or going to school," he said. "That means no more diner visits."

 _I don't have much money left anyway,_ I thought.

"Now get up there and do some work," Father said. "If you need help with anything, especially if it's astronomy-related, just ask."

"Yeah, yeah," I said, climbing the steps. "See ya."

After I had gotten out of Father's sight, I looked back to see Mario following me. I held my bedroom door open for him.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

I shut the door behind him and put my food down on the small dresser next to the bed.

He went over to my desk and wheeled the chair over. He sat down on it.

"Well," I muttered, sitting down on the edge of my bed, "let's get this over with."

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

It had been five minutes and neither of us had said a thing. I ate my lasagna while Mario watched with his head tucked between his knees.

Two more minutes of silence passed.

We stared at each other.

I blinked a few times.

He did too.

I lowered the fork from my mouth and laid it down on the plate.

"Mar," I said, "you've been quiet."

"So have you," he replied. "I was waiting for you to start talking."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Mario stretched his legs out and leaned forward. "You've barely touched your food. If you don't finish it, I'll-"

"You'll take it?"

"Yep."

I pushed the plate towards him.

"If I don't finish this in the next five minutes," I said, "you can have it. I would've preferred having mac and cheese anyway."

"I'll give you ten minutes."

"It'll get cold."

"I'm not _that_ hungry."

"So says the man who gorged on twenty-something sandwiches and a carton of cheese crackers the other day."

I leaned over the side of my bed and zippered open my bag. I took out my English folder.

"You remember those guys from earlier?" I asked. "Dennis, Rick, and that other guy, Theo?"

"That's his name?"

"You're talking about Theo?"

"I'm guessing that he was the one in the window?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Carry on."

I took in a deep breath. I exhaled.

He patiently waited.

I looked him straight in the eye. _Here goes._

With another exhale, I said, "They've… Been bullying me."

I could've sworn the calm look on Mario's face had changed for a second. It went from calm and thoughtful to widened eyes. Yet when I blinked, it was gone. The calm expression had returned.

Had it existed or had I imagined it?

"Why?" he asked me.

"I…" My voice faded and I frowned. "I don't know why, Mar. I've tried my best to stay low and do my own thing. I usually hang out at home, play video games, and do whatever I want. You know that I like my peace and quiet."

"Maybe they're miserable?" he suggested.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "They're all pretty well-off. They have tons of friends outside of their clique."

Mario sat cross-legged on my chair. "Uh-huh."

"You've seen that they're not afraid to use force to get their way. They're plain-out assholes. But all this time, I've been wondering why they've only been targeting me. I've never done anything to them."

"Did you ever try ignoring them? I do that when people get annoying sometimes."

"I ended up getting elbowed in the stomach by Dennis."

He rubbed his chin. When he finally spoke up he said, "I'm reminded of when I was in school."

"Really?" I asked. "Did you get bullied too?" I took a bite of my food and swallowed it.

This plumber, as a kid, being pushed around? That was hard for me to imagine. If anything, he probably would've fought back.

"Yeah, no," he replied to my thoughts. "Everyone stayed clear of me."

I dropped my fork. Forget waiting ten minutes; he could have the rest if he wanted it.

Mario took me up on that offer. He started digging through what was left.

"But…" he said between bites, "I have gotten into fights before."

"You have?" Maybe it had been to defend his little brother? That would make sense.

He sighed, having read my thoughts again, and shook his head. "No. I used to not care so much for Luigi."

I frowned. I started to say, "What are you talking abou-"

He went on talking. "Back in school, I terrorized everyone younger than me. I beat them up, stole their lunches, hung out with Wario on a daily basis, and picked on my little bro… I didn't care who I hurt as long as I achieved my goals."

I stared at him.

"It wasn't until I saved Peach for the first time ever that I realized how terrible of a person I was. I broke off my friendship with Wario and became the guy you see today." The plumber wrapped his arms around his knees.

I continued watching him in silence.

"What I'm saying is the truth. I used to be a bully. Nobody ever stood up to me until Bowser did."

I laid my English folder down in my lap.

Mar's face reddened as I continued to stay quiet.

"Um, I-I went on a little rant there," he stammered. "I didn't mean to… It just- I related to it- I probably shouldn't have- Sorry…"I

I went into my bag. When I sat back up, I was holding a big red hat.

He stopped blubbering as soon as I dropped it over his head. The red blush on his face remained.

"I guess there's only one solution to this," I said. "You're coming with me to school tomorrow."

* * *

 _?_

That couldn't be right. That Mario hat couldn't be floating on its own.

Yet his eyes didn't deceive him. The hat was hanging in midair and Sammy had continued to talk as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

"Because you've been in a situation like this before," she said to seemingly nobody. "You could help me."

The hat shifted so that it floated upright.

"If I go alone tomorrow, you might end up being dragged along again. I _really_ don't want a repeat of what happened today. Alright?"

The hat made a small up-and-down gesture.

"Good." Sammy opened the folder in her lap. "Now how about we do some of this stupid homework?"

He pulled away from the window and sat down on the awning. He still couldn't believe it.

 _She actually thinks that I'm terrible._ He grunted to himself.

The hat had moved closer to her. They were both reading through a black-covered book.

 _And that hat…_

This wasn't a dream, however. He knew that. It had been a pain to get up here and spy on her.

 _This is crazy. This all crazy. I gotta go._ He crawled towards the edge of the roof, where a ladder had been placed below. He placed both feet on it and twisted himself around.

 _Who's moving the hat? A ghost?_ He shivered against the cold February air. _A demon?_

 _Or does she really believe she's Mario?_

He smiled to himself at that last comment and shook his head. _Maybe I'm just overthinking it all and need more sleep. That hat couldn't have been floating all by itself._ He climbed down the ladder.

Once on the ground, he looked back up at the window one last time.

 _What I do know is that I'm going to need a different approach._


	16. Another Sick Day

_Sam_

My Tuesday morning started with me, in a heavy blanket, tumbling out of bed. My _everywhere_ throbbed as I slowly sat up on my knees.

None of the pain that consumed me could compare to explosion that had happened in my head. I slouched forward and pressed my fingers against my temples.

 _Oh no._ I thought. _Not_ again _._

Every time I moved my head, it got worse. I had to settle for leaning against the bed frame as I waited for it to wear off.

When it finally did who knows how much later, I slowly pulled myself back up. I sat down on my mattress.

Mario was still asleep in my chair across the room. His chest rose and fell with each calm breath.

If I hadn't been so tired last night, I, for sure, would've kicked him out.

My bookbag was on the desk next to him. Its top zipper was open. All of my subjects were in a pile next to it.

We had gotten a lot of work done last night. We went from discussion questions for _The Hobbit_ to math problems to somehow finishing that western civilization essay. The only subject we didn't touch was astronomy, given how the next assignment wouldn't be due for the next few weeks.

The both of us must've been up pretty late if the crust in my eyes was anything. Mario wouldn't let me sleep until that last sentence, no matter how incorrect and incomprehensible it seemed, had been written down.

"Mar," I said.

He didn't move.

I squeezed my eyes shut as my headache came back. I laid back down. One of my feet became hooked underneath the blanket. I reached backwards to grab it as my foot pulled it up.

" _Mar,"_ I said this time with my thoughts, " _get up."_

He moved. Crossed legs became uncrossed. His head turned inwards towards the chair.

" _Mario."_

He muttered to himself.

"I'm sorry?" I said.

He was much louder this time. "MA-rio. It's MA-rio."

"Get up, MA-rio MAR-io."

"That's MA-rio MA-rio to you, Sammy."

My pillow went flying. It whacked against his back.

"Don't call me that!" I yelled at him.

Mario sat up and stretched. He yawned out the words, "If you don't want me to do that, don't say my name wrong."

"I'll call you Mar if I want to call you Mar. Okay?"

The pillow I'd thrown at him hit my face. I fell backwards with a muffled cry. My head and arms went over the opposite side of the bed as the pillow fell to the floor nearby.

Everything was upside down now. The white ceiling became the "floor". It was all that I could see.

My headache worsened. I groaned and tried lifting myself up.

I felt weak and dizzy just like last time, except now that weakness had spread to more than my legs and head. My hands quivered as they tried to get a grip on my mattress. When they did, my upper body barely moved before I dropped back down again.

My head grew heavier by the second as blood rushed down to it. The world blurred around me. I tried again to lift myself to no avail.

The world started to go black. I shut my eyes and silently wished to be released from this torture.

The bed jumped. A hand slipped underneath my back.

Light flooded my sight. My blood started flowing in the right direction. I sucked in a tiny breath.

The hand that pulled me back up stayed on me. Its owner pushed himself closer to me.

Words spilled out of Mario's mouth. "I'm _sooooo_ sorry. I didn't mean to throw it that hard. Do you feel alright? I could go downstairs and get ya an ice pack or..."

I released my breath and took another, this time much larger than the last.

"Why're you holding your head?" he asked.

"Guess," I said in a big exhale. "Just guess."

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

"I can't believe that I'm sick again," I said.

Mar let go of me so I could sit at the kitchen table. He then went over to the fridge.

"Don't think of it that way," he said. He opened the fridge. "It's another day off for ya."

I rested my head in one of my hands. "You're only saying that because you're a high school dropout."

"More like fail-out, but yeah." He turned away from me and frowned.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

He stepped back and shut the fridge closed. "There's nothing in there but some drinks and butter. Your dad went overboard with this whole "taking away the snacks" thing,"

"Try the freezer."

"I was gonna do that anyway." Mario came back over to the table and dragged one of the chairs back to the fridge. He hopped on top of it.

Again, I found myself wondering why I didn't hear a sound when he jumped. Was that only a video game thing?

"I've got no idea what you're thinking about," he suddenly said.

Oh goodie. I'm not even "thinking thinking" and he caught on to that. "It's a weird observation. Don't mind it."

"I kinda do mind. They're _my_ games."

"Meh."

He stood on his toes as he opened the freezer.

I waited.

He shut it closed and showed me two similar-looking red and white boxes. "You want waffles?"

I squinted at it and asked, "Are those _Huntersfield_ 's or _Aunt Rebecca_ 's?"

"There's a difference?"

"Yeah," I said. " _Aunt Rebecca_ 's waffles burn easy, but taste good plain if you get the timing right. _Huntersfield_ , though, is local and pretty much the brand the people here prefer eating."

He held up the box in his right hand. "This one's _Huntersfield_."

"Put it back. I've never been not a fan of their products."

"Why?" he asked. He reopened the fridge.

"None of what _Huntersfield_ makes tastes good even though their ingredients are freshly picked from farms and cooked or baked by so-called professional chefs. _Aunt Rebecca's_ is waaaaaaay better than that junk. It reminds me of when I used to live in New York; I'd make it in the morning by myself and eat it while playing _Pokémon Ruby_." I rested my head on my fists. "I still miss that Torchic. Wish I could find the cartridge again."

"Uh-huh…" Mario said. He dropped a pair of waffles into a toaster. "What's a Torchic?"

"It's an orange chicken that turns into a another chicken with arms and then some creature with long legs that doesn't resemble a chicken. Does that answer your question?"

"...Not really."

"It breathes fire."

"A _fire-breathing_ chicken?"

My head hurt again. I laid it down on the table. "Where is this conversation even going?"

"Don't ask me; you started it." As he usually did while making food, Mario put down plates at his seat and mine. That cushion he liked to sit on seemingly appeared out of thin air, which he dropped on to his seat.

The first pair of waffles popped up. He went back over there and dropped them on to a larger plate.

After another set was made, he took everything and came back to the table.

"If you're not going back today," Mario said, "do you wanna play more of that _Kart_ game?"

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Mar made a major mistake asking me to play _Mario_ _Kart_ with him. I destroyed him a couple of times in one-on-one matches before he, in his frustration, threw down his controller.

"OH, COME ON!" the irritated Italian man shrieked. "I was RIGHT THERE. I should've gotten FIRST."

I snickered and put my _Wii U_ gamepad down on my lap.

"Maybe if you hadn't wasted that banana on blocking Bowser's red shell," I told him, "you would've won. It didn't even hit you until you crossed the finish line."

"Oh, EXCUSE ME, Miss I'ma-So-Good-At-This-Stupid-Game." Mario got up and stretched his fingers. "Everybody was targeting me, I didn't get anything good to defend myself with the entire race aside from those bananas…" He let out an anguished cry.

I sat there watching him.

"I'm… I'm going to get a snack," he said finally. "See ya in a few minutes."

He zoomed out of the room once he had uttered that.

I picked up the _Wii U._ "Whatever you say, dude."

I went into single player and couldn't help but smirk when I came to the character select screen. The cursor defaulted to Waluigi, who I occasionally mained alongside Luigi.

"Maybe he's butthurt over the fact he lost to the "loser"," I muttered to myself. That'd be funny if it were true. It's not everyday that Waluigi tops people in anything. Well, aside from tennis, I guess. "So who do I play as this time?"

The cursor moved between Luigi and Waluigi. However, I couldn't find myself clicking on either of them.

I explored Yoshi and Koopa Troopa as options. I combined them with a number of combos, but couldn't imagine myself heading into 200cc with them. I'd probably be falling off every turn, and the _Wii U_ version of this game had no Smart Steering option. So I rejected the both of them.

Next up was Bowser. He was a cool character, but the kart combos I paired up with him never seemed to satisfy me. I dropped him too.

I outright refused to play as any of the Koopalings. I never cared enough for them as characters.

I skipped the babies as well. Unless I was playing _Partners in Time_ , I'd rather not touch them.

Princess Daisy was too excitable for my tastes. Peach seemed… Okay, but I wanted something more balanced.

This process went on and on until I was left with one option left: the red-hatted character in the upper left corner.

The cursor landed on his portrait. I stared at him.

By some crazy twist of fate, Mario had become the last man standing. He sat in the biddybuggy that I had just paired up with Lakitu.

I've never touched him in the few years that I'd owned this game. He was the game's jack-of-all-trades; either a beginner's character or a nobody in a game of somebody's.

But with him currently living with me, I found myself saying, "Why not?"

So I experimented with certain kart combinations. The standard kart parts were, well, standard, so I dropped those. Inward drifting bikes were discarded, because screw those things. Various factors, such as too much speed for a 200cc vehicle, made me drop parts too.

Eventually, I thought, _Screw it_ , _I want to race._ I gave whatever kart parts were on-screen to Mario, set the CC's to two hundred, put the items to frantic, and made the amount races I wanted to do four.

With that, I clicked the start button.

The first race was on Moo Moo Meadows. I revved up my engine as Lakitu counted down.

The racers sped off. I instantly flew ahead of everyone, hit the first curve in the road, and drifted towards the fence.

My kart tightly hugged the road as it went along the curve. My first item ended up being a green shell, which I dragged behind the kart.

The in-game Mario cried out happily as he got a turbo off the curve. He was breaking from the pack now, and he had a good item backing him up.

Bowser threw a red shell. It broke against my green. I laughed at his pitiful attempt to slow me down.

Mario did a trick off the ramp towards the end of the first lap. He also tricked over a monty mole burrowing around in the area.

As I finished my first lap, something just seemed to… Spark. _This_ combo felt good to control. His turns were tight, I wasn't hitting any walls, and Mario's abnormally high-pitched screaming in this game didn't bother me. I had something good here.

My palms grew sweaty. I smirked and grabbed the next item box.

A super horn. That was perfect. I was able to destroy the blue shell coming at me as I was midway through the second lap.

After another minute or so, I finished the race. I watched the results come in.

First place. Fifteen points. I had utterly destroyed the competition and gotten _way_ ahead of the other racers.

I won.

I put down the gamepad and watched as Mario raced by himself. Had I really just found someone new that worked ridiculous well for me? Someone that wasn't Luigi or Waluigi? Someone who was even _better_ than the both of them?

My palms were still sweaty. I wiped them against my pants.

Interestingly enough, my headache had gone away. I could sit up straight against the couch without feeling nauseous.

"Thank goodness," I said.

The cable box read 7:15. If I still wanted to go to school, I had fifteen minutes to prepare for it.

 _Should I? What if the dizziness returns when I stand up?_

I heard a gasp. I turned my head towards the arch that marked the living room's entrance.

Mario, the actual man now, stood there with half-eaten piece of buttered toast. His eyes were wide. His toast slowly slid down its plate.

"What's with the face?" I asked, smirking. "Surprised that I'm playing as you?"

"No," he said. "No-not at all."

"So what is it?" I decided to take another guess, "The fact my headache's gone?"

"Your-your hand! It's…"

"What about my hand?" I held both of my bare palms out to him.

At least I _thought_ they were bare. My left hand had been completely consumed by a bright orange flame.

"IT'S ON FIRE!" Mario shouted.

I screamed, half from terror and half from the suddenness of the plumber grabbing and pulling me out of the room. The two of us rushed across the foyer to the kitchen.

I watched as the flames licked at my bare arm. An intense heat radiated off of it.

I felt nothing but warmth despite that _._ The fire _wasn't hurting me at all._


	17. Memories

_Sam_

Mario turned on the sink. He shoved my left hand under the faucet.

The fire went out as soon as the gushing water touched my skin. I shivered from its coolness and pulled my arm away.

I flexed my hand. Nothing had happened to it. Heck, it looked the same as ever; I had a small scar on my palm and a birthmark near a vein on the other side.

"What are you doing?!" Mar shouted. "Put it back in!"

He didn't wait for me to respond as he forced my hand back under the gushing water. He held it there.

I gasped from the water, which had gotten somewhat colder, and tried to pull away again.

Mario clamped my hand down. He glowered at me.

"I-I'm fine," I told him, cringing.

"You might have gotten burned," he said.

"I'm _fine_ ," I repeated. "I feel nothing."

 _Except for the water,_ my mind added.

Mario didn't let go of me. He pressed his thumb against various parts of my palm.

"No burns?" he murmured. "That's strange. 'Course, we don't know how long it was on fire before I came in…"

He released me and turned off the sink.

My arm fell back to my side.

"If you say you're fine," he said, "then, well, fine. I just gotta see that thing with the funny name you were playing with."

He slid off the counter.

"The _Wii U_?" I said.

"Yeah. That thing."

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Mario gingerly flipped over the _Wii U_ gamepad and lightly tapped the spot where the battery pack was.

"Do you see anything different?" he asked. "'Cause I don't."

I shrugged.

"It couldn't have been that," I told him. "Consoles don't normally burst into flames."

"Okay… This is gonna be a strange question, but does your dad store lighters inside your couch? That'd be pretty dangerous."

"My hand was nowhere near the cushions," I said. I plucked a pillow out from the couch behind me. "And he's not stupid enough to do that." _Well,_ _I think so…_

Up until Mario came along, I had no idea that Father had developed that habit. What sort of stuff did he hide in our couch? Why couldn't he use the closet in his room?

People can be _weird._

Mario put down a glass of water he had been drinking from. He sat up.

"I don't see what else could've started the fire," he said. "There aren't many humans outside of the star children that have naturally developed magic powers."

"Uh, I've been talking to a dead guy for the past few days. And my world isn't your world."

"True."

A tiny orange flame came to life in his left palm.

"Isn't that your firebrand ability?" I asked.

He nodded and said, "Yep. _Signore del Fuoco_ in the Beanbean Kingdom taught me how to use it."

"I'm sorry?"

" _Signore del Fuoco._ The Fire Lord."

"I thought his name was the Fire God."

The fire grew a smidge larger. Mario held his hand further away from him and cracked a smile.

"That's what I've heard people call him," he said. "I don't think he or the Thunder Lord are gods. Minor spirits of power, sure, but not gods."

His eyes shifted away from mine and landed on Tabitha, who had followed us into the room.

Seeing as she wasn't causing any trouble, I refocused on Mario.

His fire had died down to sparks.

Outside, a horn beeped. My head swerved toward the window.

The bus had come and I hadn't even changed out of my clothes from yesterday. Guess I wasn't going to school after all.

"Father's going to be pissed," I sighed.

"You'll be fine," Mario said. "We'll catch up on your homework later."

"...Fine." I turned away from the window and picked up the TV remote. "Do you want to play more _Kart_?"

"Actually, could I see your hand?" he asked.

I blinked.

"The one that was on fire. Could I see it?"

"Why?"

"'Cause I have an idea."

"'Have an idea'?"

He took my hand, palm-up, on top of his. His fingers wrapped around it and clamped down on its edges, forcing my fingers together.

Mario's hand sure was big compared to mine. Heck, his proportions, in general, were _extremely_ out of whack when compared to a regular human's.

His grip softened.

"Better?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure," I said.

"Alright," he said, nodding. "Don't freak out, 'cause I'm going to conjure a flame. If you're developing some sorta ability to control fire, maybe you could hold it." When I remained silent, he added, "Just trust me. I did this with Luigi when he was developing minor fire abilities."

"Really?"

He didn't respond as his eyes narrowed. A soft heat collected in the palm of his hand.

We sat in silence for a moment. I tore my gaze away to watch the clock.

He gently squeezed my hand. "Don't do that."

I looked back down.

A small fire had started in his palm. It licked against the back of my hand and, again, didn't hurt me.

The flames felt… Strange. It was as if his own fingers were dancing on my hand, leaving ticklish trails as they zig-zagged and crisscrossed across it. My hand twitched, which prompted Mar to hold my fingers together tighter.

My own warmth collected in my cheeks. I bit as hard as I could down on my quivering lip.

The ticklish feeling increased. I tried to steer my thoughts elsewhere.

 _Don't give in and laugh,_ my mind urged. _Think of something unappealing._

And I shut my eyes.

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Only one image came to mind. It was a person; a fat man with graying hair. He smirked at me and stood straight up, towering me by several feet. His grin was big, and his yellowing teeth shone brightly even in the room's dim light.

"Sammy," he said. "My only grandchild."

He approached me where I stood, quivering from the cold air.

His hand slipped under my chin. Then, he yanked my head up.

I gasped.

His hand traveled up to my cheek. His fingers gently stroked it.

Being the young, naive child I was, I let him. I felt my head drop into his hand and closed my eyes. I smiled.

Maybe this time was going to be different. He was going to be nice to me.

Grandpa laughed and kneeled down to my level. The fingers on my cheek traveled down to my chin. Then he brought his mouth close to my ear and whispered something soft and disgustingly sweet inside it.

The next few words that he said to me would be words that I would remember for the rest of my life:

"I hope that you drop dead."

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

"SAM!" Mario yelled. "SAM?!"

My eyes snapped open. I was curled up against the couch's armrest.

A wall of orange crackled before me. It extended from the wooden floor to about where my head was.

My heart was pounding. If it were possible, it'd probably be coming out of my chest.

"M-Mar?" I sputtered. "Yo-you're there?"

An arm wrapped behind my back and a small figure pulled itself closer to me. He didn't say anything as he pressed himself against my side.

The large fire died down the instant I felt his hand on me. When I looked down...

Thankfully, nothing around us had been scorched. It had been as if the flames had never been conjured.

We sat together, breathing heavily.

"My little experiment got out of hand," Mario said. "You freaked out and- And you did that!"

"I…" I whispered. My eyes wouldn't leave that spot. "Did that?

" _I did_?" my thoughts echoed.

He nodded.

I flipped my hands over and stared into my palms. "I did that."

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Neither of us spoke about the incident for the next few hours. In fact, we didn't speak at all. Not even after Father came home and yelled at me for not going to school again today.

I don't know if Mario had seen what I had. A part of me wished that he hadn't. It would make things easier for me.

The other part wondered if he had. What had he thought while it was going on? Did he see _him_?

As for the fire, I still couldn't believe that I had somehow manipulated it. The memory of that wall of flames was still etched into my mind, and it wouldn't leave.

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Later that night, there was a knock at my door. I got up and opened it.

Mar was standing there holding a bowl. He handed it to me.

The food inside was a cream-colored soup with bowtie noodles and meatballs floating around.

"What is this?" I asked him.

"Mushroom soup with noodles," he replied. He reached behind him and took out another bowl of the stuff.

I didn't question that.

"We make it sometimes back home," he went on saying. "I've just never tried doing it with regular mushrooms. I hope it tastes alright."

I hugged the warm bowl against my chest and reached for the door. "So, um, do you want to come in?"

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Mario's cooking is usually what I'd grade as "passable", but it was actually pretty great tonight. I couldn't help eating every last noddle and meatball that I had in my bowl.

I got the chance to introduce Mar to the _3DS_ and a few of the _Super Mario_ games on that system. We took turns playing them before Tabitha interrupted us and demanded dinner from me.

She actually ate from our bowls. Mario wouldn't stop laughing when she finally stopped and we found her whiskers were full of the creamy soup.

The whole time we hung out, I couldn't help but notice how Mar would occasionally stare at me. There was no emotion in those looks of his. He just did them.

Did he see that particular memory of mine? What if he started to interrogate me over it?

Unlike what had happened with Dennis and company, I wasn't so sure if I wanted to open up about _him_ and how _he_...


	18. Lady Khione

_M_ _ario_

 _The man stood over her._

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

"No," I said, pushing the eggs aside.

I found the pancake mix in the cabinet.

"Had that a day or two ago."

Maybe I could make a grilled cheese-

"Not enough cheese."

Or-

"There's _nothing_ in here!"

Then I threw that empty box of mashed potatoes away.

My stomach rumbled.

I folded my arms.

"Guess I'll hav'ta get creative," I sighed.

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

 _He was grinning._

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

 _Gotta finish making the toast._

I grabbed the butter knife and started spreading butter on top of a piece of bread.

"Mar?"

"Is that you, Sam?" I asked, turning around.

"Mawr?"

That sounded nothing like her, but I still said, "Good morning?"

"RAWWWR!"

A small tabby cat came running into the kitchen.

"Yeah," I chuckled, "I figured it was you."

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

" _Sammy. My only grandchild."_

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

"Sam, it's time to get up," I said.

She groaned.

"You gotta go to school."

She pulled the blanket closer around her. She groaned louder.

I held up her phone, which was playing some weird song in a language I didn't recognize. Maybe it was German, but I wasn't too sure.

"Please?" I asked. "I can't turn this alarm off."

" _Blumenkranz_ ," she muttered. "Freaking _Blumenkranz_."

" _Blumenkranz_?"

"Give me the damn thing," she grumbled.

"Yeah, sure," I said, holding the phone out to her.

She snatched it away from me. So much for giving it to her.

The music abruptly stopped.

Sam sat up. She put her phone down on the dresser nearby.

"Anyway," I said, "good morning!"

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

 _The child shook._

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

"Are you okay?" Sam asked me. She put down the TV remote. "If this is about the whole summoning fire thing yesterday, I still can't believe it myself."

"Well, I mean, yeah-"

"Am I going to be able to conjure fireballs soon?"

"I don't know-"

"You know, like you?"

"I said, I don't know-"

"I have no idea what I'd use fire for…"

I just shook my head.

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

 _The man's hand slipped under her chin._

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

"Hey!" somebody shouted. "It's Maria!"

The fists holding the straps on Sam's bag tightened.

" _It's them,"_ she said. _"Let's go the long way around."_

I nodded and followed her down the nearest hallway.

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

 _He yanked her head up and gently rubbed her cheek._

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

"Here," Sam said to her western civilization teacher. "I finished it."

The teacher flipped through the pages. After a second, he said, "You were supposed to type the essay."

She blinked a few times.

I sat down underneath her desk.

" _...You have_ got _to be kidding me."_

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

 _She closed her eyes and smiled._

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

"So, Maria," that guy named Theo said, "how goes the princess-saving?"

"Not now, _Theophilus_ ," Sam hissed through clenched teeth.

 _It'd be cool if I knew how to control fire,_ I heard her think. _I could burn his ass._

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

 _The older guy got on his knees in front of her._

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

"I'm going to have to type the stupid thing now," Sam groused. "It's going to be another day late and another point lost.

"Great."

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

 _He slipped his hand under her chin and whispered-_

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Sam shut the front door to her house closed.

"Well, that was an eventful Wednesday," she sighed. "We didn't have gym again."

She looked over at me.

"What'd you think about today, Mar?"

I made the left turn into the living room.

"Mar?"

I flopped onto the couch and picked up the remote.

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

" _I hope that you drop dead."_

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Nothing notable happened for the rest of the week. Or, if anything did, I guess I didn't notice.

Sam seemed content with ignoring me when we had to go to school. When we got home afterward, she always went to her dad's room to type up her western civ essay. She wasn't thinking much, so that let me be alone with my own thoughts.

While she was busy, I sat upstairs with her _3DS_ playing the _Super Mario_ games on there. I still couldn't believe how well those _Nintendo_ guys had emulated my previous adventures. They had everything from locations Luigi and I traveled to the people I met correct, barring a few strange details here and there.

I wish that they'd got the map of the Mushroom Kingdom right. In one game, there'd be a Toad Town, and the next there'd be nothing. What happened to everybody? Why are the residents usually all toads?

And if the games are supposed to emulate my adventures, why did the guy who was supposed to be me, pardon me for saying this, suck?

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Sam and I went straight upstairs when we got home on Friday.

"Have you noticed how quiet Dennis has been?" Sam asked. She shut the bedroom door behind her. "You'd think with me suddenly being made fun of by random people for the "Maria" incident, he'd be the first in line to do so."

I shrugged.

"Whatever, then," she said. "I'm just glad to be done with that essay."

I nodded.

"Though…" She frowned, walked over to her bed, and put her bag down. "You've been quiet this past couple of days too. What's up with that?"

I followed her to the bed and hopped on. I kicked my shoes off.

Sam's gaze landed on me. "Well?"

Guess it was time to talk about that thought that wouldn't stop nagging me.

Aaaaaaaand before I could, she wrinkled her nose. "You should take a shower. It's been over a week since you got here and you smell like you've been living in a landfill."

I frowned.

"What? It's the truth."

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

I headed down to the bathroom. There wasn't any chance of her dad walking in on me; he's usually not around until the evening, so it was a good time to shower.

I'm actually glad Sam reminded me to take one. As soon as I'd taken my gloves off and felt my hair… _Ick_. I'd let it get too greasy compared to my mustache.

I tossed all of my clothes on top of the laundry basket and turned on the shower. Then I unwrapped the bar of soap I'd taken with me.

My stomach felt kinda itchy as I stepped into the tub. I scratched at it as I turned on the water.

"Here we go," I mumbled.

I took the bar of soap and started washing. As I looked down-

Red.

I froze.

 _Red._

My stomach was pretty red. Maybe I'd been sitting on it for too long? It'd probably been a bad idea to a hard floor all day. That would leave a large bruise behind.

No, I'm in denial. That wasn't an extremely red bruise on my stomach. Sitting in place for a long time doesn't give you markings like that.

The red that was on me was dried _blood_ , an-and-

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

 _He woke up feeling a small, cool hand on his back._

 _A question was quick to come to mind: how was he alive? That wound he took to his abdomen should have killed him!_

 _Did he have a one-up all this time?_

 _No, that couldn't be it. He wouldn't be lying down like this if he was alive. He'd "respawn", as the Mushroom Kingdomers called the phenomenon, from thin air on his feet._

" _My lady," a soft voice said, "his soul still lingers within his failing body."_

" _Remove i_ _t," a second voice replied. When the first voice didn't speak, it added, "I don't care what you do with his spirit. Crush it, send it down that pipe we found earlier, or something. All I want is for him to be out of the way."_

" _Yes, my lady."_

 _There was a short moment of silence._

 _"What do we do about the body?" the first voice asked._

 _The woman answered, "I'll be taking the spear back from him. I don't want to lose it since it's my favorite one. As for the body itself…" Sh_ _e laughed. "We're not burying it. I have a_ much _better_ _idea."_

 _He felt another hand touch his cheek. Th_ _is one was_ much _colder, and it sent a shiver down his spine._

 _He cringed and pulled his face away._

 _The woman laughed even harder. "Aw... He still has some fight left in him. Cute."_

 _He heard shuffling._

" _Let's see how much he struggles when I pull this spear out of him!"_

 _"La-lady Khione?!"_

 _An immense, throbbing pain consumed him, starting from his stomach. It wracked every inch of his body and caused him to_ scream.

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

"Mar?"

Sam opened the door. She held a butter knife in her left hand and was shielding her eyes with the other.

"Hey," she nearly shouted over the pouring shower water, "it's been an hour and you haven't been answering me."

She heard nothing.

"You have to get out. My father's home."

He didn't talk.

"I'm not even looking at you. Just say something."

Mario stayed silent.

She risked taking a peek through her fingers.

A short brown-haired man, surrounded by tons of sud bubbles, was sitting face-up in an overflowing bathtub. A small yellow bottle floated next to his body.

"Did you _fall asleep_ in there?" Sam asked, her voice tinged with disbelief.

She took a small, cautious step into the room.

That big nose of his was barely above the water.

Her eyes widened all of a sudden. "Ma-Mario?"

The bright red spot on his stomach seemed to glow in contrast to the white suds surrounding him. Was it... Bleeding?

"Mar?!" Sam dashed forward. "I have no freaking clue what happened here, but I'll get you out-"

His eyes snapped open.

She flinched.

His big blue eyes and her small brown ones met.

She took a step back and averted her gaze.

"Nev-nevermind!" she squeaked.

The man sitting in the bathtub screamed regardless.

* * *

 **A/N: I don't know how many of SR's original readers are around a year after this fic was first published, but I'd like to thank them for helping it survive its first few months while I was making some pretty questionable decisions (e.g. when I wanted to change this fic to third-person, or heck, when I rebooted the story (Which I think was a good idea. The original version of it felt… Wrong)).**

 **Anyway, that's it from me. If anyone has anything they'd like to say about this chapter or anything about the fic in general, let me know. I'd like to hear it!**

 **GitS**


	19. Hot Chocolate

_Mario_

I stared at the wall as I sat in the corner of Sam's bedroom. My knees were tucked against my chest.

Sam was nearby, watching as I wiped a warm, wet napkin against my skin. Next to her was a first aid kit.

I cringed as I cleaned my wound. I had to will my hand to keep going when it faltered

"Are you sure you don't want me to-"

" _No_ ," I said. "I can do it myself."

Her shoulders slumped. "I'm glad that it's not actually bleeding," she said. "I can't stand blood."

"Can ya pass me a big bandage now?" I asked.

She flipped open the first aid kit and handed one to me.

I tore it open and applied it to my skin. When that was done, I tossed the bandage's wrappers aside.

Sam scooped them into a miniature trash can that'd been by her desk.

I put my shirt back on and exhaled. "There. It's done." I looked up at Sam. "Sorry about-"

"Don't apologize," she interrupted me. "You're fine."

I nodded and put a hand against the bandage. "I hope so."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"It…" I said, "It felt as if I was being set on fire."

My eyes shut, remembering the searing pain that Lady Khione had inflicted on me. My own pain-ridden scream rang in my ears.

Sam stood at the kitchen counter. She was in the middle of brewing some hot chocolate.

"It was that bad?" she said.

I nodded.

She muttered some stuff under her breath. I didn't bother trying to listen in on it.

I laid my head on the table and continued watching her make her drink. She stirred a concoction of milk and chocolate bars together. When she was done, she put the mug in the microwave.

"Do you want to do anything?" she asked me. "Like, video games or browsing the internet?" When I didn't answer, she added, "Maybe we could make a late-night snack?"

"I don't know," I replied.

She leaned on the counter. Her fist rested on her chin. She mumbled more things to herself.

The microwave beeped.

Sam opened it up and took out the mug.

"That's good enough," she said. She shut the microwave door closed and mixed the ingredients some more with a spoon. Then she shuffled back over to the table.

I heard a dull thump. I picked my head up so that I could keep watching her.

The mug she held scratched against the wooden table.

I lifted my eyebrows. Why was she moving it this way?

The white mug stopped inches from my nose.

I picked my head up.

The chocolate inside the mug violently splashed around.

My eyes wandered further up to Sam.

She'd already walked away.

My mouth opened, then shut.

Sam took another cup from the dryer rack by the sink. She picked up a giant jug of milk and poured more into it.

I cupped the mug in my hands. "Are you giving this to me?"

She turned around to face me. One end of her mouth curved upwards.

"Yeah," she said. "It's yours. I can always make more."

My mouth opened again.

"You're welcome, Mario."

"Um, uh," I said, "thanks?"

She turned away and shook her head.

I lifted my mug and took a sip of the hot chocolate. The moment the milk hit my tongue, I tasted the dark chocolate and-

I stopped mid-sip.

 _Wow_. Just, _wow_.

That flavor pretty much _smacked_ me. She'd added a pinch of cinnamon alongside those chocolate bars.

This cup of hot cocoa instantly reminded me of when Luigi made them back home during the wintertime. He'd add about the same amount of cinnamon to our drinks and, occasionally, a marshmallow. It's pretty amazing how similar the flavor was. Minus the tasty marshmallow floating in cocoa, obviously.

Man, I miss the good old days.

I put the mug down, still feeling its heat on my face.

Sam turned to face me. She carried a second mug with her back to the table.

As she sat down, I pushed my mug towards her.

She blinked. She'd almost started drinking her hot chocolate.

"You made some pretty good cocoa there," I said. "Could I have another?"

She blinked a second time.

"Please? If I tried making this myself, I'd get everything wrong."

She lowered her head while biting her lip. But try as she might, she couldn't hide that little smile that appeared on her face.

"I'll do that," she said, "Mario."

She cupped her mug with both hands and took a nice, long drink from it.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Wasn't Khione the name of the woman who pulled the spear out of you?" Sam asked.

My newfound injury throbbed at the mere mention of that… Weapon. I put my hand up against it.

"Yeah," I replied.

Everything outside Sam's window had turned white from the blizzard that'd moved in. I couldn't find the street lamps out there anymore.

Sam laid on the single flat pillow on her bed. I couldn't wrap my head around how she could sleep with only that. Wouldn't she hurt her neck?

She seemed fine with it as she played with her phone.

I slid off the windowsill and went over to her bed. I sat down at its edge.

Sam turned her head. She'd wrapped a heavy blanket around herself.

"Khione's the name of a snow goddess in Greek mythology," she said. "And it's not pronounced "key-on". I always thought it was "key-on"."

I noticed the piece of paper in her lap. Her eyes darted from it and her phone, and back again. Her fingers tapped against the screen after each look between them.

"What'cha writing?" I decided to ask her.

"Notes," she told me.

"About what?"

"You."

I leaned over the paper. "Me?"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

1\. This whole thing started when Toadsworth, Peach's advisor, wandered on to the Bros' property injured.

2\. It's a sunny day in the Mushroom Kingdom. Storm clouds gathered and it started snowing.

3\. Mario ran off to deal with whatever problem had arisen at Peach's castle. That was the last time he'd ever see Luigi.

4\. His next memory was of bleeding out in Peach's throne room. Somebody, a woman, was talking to him. Does Jaydees exist in the mainline SM universe?

5\. "Lady Khione" ripped the spear used to kill Mar out of him. Is she the same person who was talking to him as he laid dying in one of his earlier flashbacks? Was she the one who murdered him?

6\. Khione suggested to somebody to send his hat, possessed by his soul, down a pipe. That must be how he ended up here.

7\. I've been able to telepathically talk to Mar.

8\. Mario and his world are both real. I'm not hallucinating.

9\. Mar has a wound on his stomach from being stabbed by a spear. It's not bleeding; it's scabby, but we had it bandaged up anyway.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

I felt a shiver travel down my spine at the mention of the spear. My hand went back to where my wound was.

"I added on to that list I made after your first few flashbacks," Sam said. "As you can tell, I have some questions. Like, who is this "Khione"? Why was she attacking the Mushroom Kingdom?"

"You didn't write those ones down," I said.

"They're still questions that we need answered." She cast the paper aside, but kept holding on to her phone. "Can you remember anything else?"

I shook my head. "Not really."

"I thought so." She typed something else into her phone and put down. She then gestured at the mug on the table nearby. "Are you done with that hot chocolate?"

I reached over, grabbed it, and gulped down the rest of the cocoa.

"I'm done now," I said, putting it back on the table.

Sam crossed her arms. "Yeesh. You drank that as if I was about to steal it."

 _"I totally would have,"_ her thoughts added.

I snorted.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

I jolted awake. My breaths were coming out short and shaky.

My hand, as it was always doing now, landing on my stomach. It snatched at my overalls.

"Mama mia," I sighed.

The room had become nearly pitch black. Sam laid in her bed nearby, snoring softly.

My pained screams from my dream rang in my ears. I grabbed an armrest on Sam's chair and breathed.

 _Get outta my head,_ I thought. _Please, I don't want to remember the pain._

Sam's bed creaked. I turned my attention over there, thankful for a brief distraction.

Sam was there, her face buried in a pillow.

"Meatball," she sleepily uttered. "I'm your hero."

I tilted my head. "Eh?"

"My princess isn't in another castle. She's right here."

Ah, yes. Those words. That was almost the exact same phrase the Toads I rescued told me on my first ever adventure to save Peach.

"I'll make you eat my shorts, Bowser."

I covered my mouth to stifle my laughter. And Luigi's told me that I say weird stuff in my sleep.

She threw her arm over the side of the bed. "Okay, let's fight you stupid turtle."

Her hand burst into flames. Sparks fell to the floor, only to disappear.

My breath became caught in my throat. I slipped out the chair and rushed to her side.

"Sam!" I cried out. "You're on fire again-"

She reached out and latched on to my arm with her flaming hand.

I stopped in my tracks.

The flames scraped against my skin. When they did, they didn't hurt. Nothing was left behind by their contact.

It was like the wall of fire she'd summon earlier this week, if a tiny bit warmer.

I pried her hand away from me and set it back down on her bed.

The moment I let go of Sam, the flames went out. She rolled over onto her stomach.

"Princess..." she moaned.

I took her blanket and threw it back over her shoulders.

 _Tomorrow_ , I thought. _We'll hav'ta talk about this tomorrow_.

I turned and left the room with that in mind. I wasn't sure what I was gonna do downstairs, but I figured that it'd be better than trying to sleep right now.


	20. Nightmares

Mario

"Cartoons," I sighed. "Everything's cartoons." I'd expected there to be better things on TV today, honestly. Maybe a great movie or two. Instead, all I got were kid shows. " _Why_ does it all have to be cartoons?"

I changed the channel. The screen went from a cat and mouse chasing each other through a house to a portrait of a pirate. Only his mouth moved as he shouted, "ARE YOU READY, KIDS?!"

"Aye, aye, Captain!" some kids yelled back.

"Um," I said. "I'm twenty-four?"

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" the pirate shouted.

"AYE, AYE, CAPTAIN!" the kids said.

And then the pirate started to sing. " _Oooooooooooh_ …"

I blinked a few times as the theme song played. I was introduced to this Spongebob guy who lived in a pineapple under the sea and-

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"You like _Spongebob Squarepants_?!" Sam said, sitting across from me on the couch. She'd gone wide-eyed.

"Yeah," I said. "It's pretty great."

"Even the gross-out scenes?" she asked, brushing her messy brown hair out of her eyes.

"Gross-out scenes?"

She put a hand to her forehead and muttered under her breath.

"I don't understand," I said.

She said nothing else and watched another episode with me. In it, a jellyfish came to live with Spongebob. I couldn't stop laughing when it held a party downstairs while he was trying to sleep.

The whole time Sam and I sat there, she barely reacted to what was happening on screen. She just crossed her arms and sat back as I laughed.

When the episode was over, I turned off the TV.

"I went to bed too late last night," Sam said, yawning. "Either that or I've been hanging out way too much with you. I had a couple of weird dreams."

"Yeah," I said, "about that."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"I don't remember dreaming about Bowser," Sam said.

"You did," I said. "You talked about him in your sleep."

"...Really?"

"Yep."

She frowned. "Huh. The only dream I remember involved an angry goat with big fake horns who wouldn't stop slapping me with a math textbook because I wouldn't get out of bed."

I blinked.

"The damn goat hosted some talk show that never got past the pilot. I don't remember what exactly happened, but I'm pretty sure Wario and Waluigi were there ragging on her."

"Okay…?" I said.

"That was it, I think. If I remembered anything else, I might've forgotten it once I came downstairs." Sam lowered her head and muttered something to herself. Her mind was pretty quiet too.

"You sure?" I asked.

She lifted her head to meet my eyes and then quickly lowered it. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"Uh-huh…" I said, crossing my arms. "You're obviously hiding something. What it is?"

Her breathing stopped. She froze. _How did he…_

"You're making it a bit too obvious that something's wrong. If nothing was, you wouldn't be keeping your thoughts quiet."

"No, you're just reading too deeply into my emotions," she said. She lifted her head again and looked me in the eye. "I'm fine. I just had a long night."

"You went to bed at ten o'clock. You came downstairs at nine-fifteen today. That'sa 'bout…" I stopped so that I could mentally count the hours on my fingers. "Eleven hours of sleep."

"I've been up since eight-thirty."

"So ten hours," I said. "You went to sleep pretty early on." I pointed to myself. "Now me, I had a long night. I've been up since three."

"Watching _Spongebob_?"

"Saturday TV's just not good for anything but cartoons. But that's not the point I'm trying to make."

"Why were you up so early?" Sam asked.

"I had a nightmare. Anyway-"

She lifted up a hand to interrupt me. "If you had a nightmare that's kept you awake since earlier this morning, why are you glossing over it?"

"Because it involved spears. Could we go back to you-"

"That's it? That's all the detail you're giving me? What else happened? Did it involve Khione?"

A sharp pain struck my side. I laid my hand over it. "Yes," I said, cringing. "I-I don't wanna talk about that."

"Good," Sam said, "because I don't want to talk about my nightmare either." She stood up. "I'm going to go make my own breakfast. See you in a little while." Then she walked out of the room.

My hand pressed tightly against the bandage beneath my clothes. I carefully sat up, not letting it move an inch off the wound.

Something happened last night that was bothering Sam. I knew that much. Now I had to coach the answer out of her.

As she made her way across the foyer, another figure appeared from one of the hallways. I think it was the one that led to the bathroom?

She stopped and turned towards him. "Morning," she said.

Sam's dad stopped too. He frowned.

"Why are you staring at me?" she said. "I didn't do anything wrong."

He reached down and grabbed her left arm. He lifted it up.

Sam's hand unfurled. She'd been holding her phone in it.

Her dad scowled at her. "Sammy Brown," he said. "How the hell do you keep finding this thing?"

"I wouldn't have it if you hadn't made its hiding place so obvious," she replied, glaring back at him. "You have to stop hiding stuff in the coach."

Sam's dad's scowl deepened into a glare similar to her's. He straightened his back, folded his arms, and looked right into her eyes. From where I stood, I saw how the bags under his eyes and his messy hair blended in to make him seem like some sorta zombie.

Sam's glare faded when she made direct eye contact with him. Her pupils dilated.

"My co-workers were right when they said that I'm not doing enough to punish you," he said. He put his hands on her shoulders. "Let's forget calling the maid today. She probably needs a break."

Sam frowned.

"You're doing all the chores," he said. "I just got the mail too, so I'm taking half of the allowance Grandma sent you this week."

"So twenty-five dollars," Sam squeaked out.

"Thirty."

She tore herself from her dad's grasp and took a step back. "That's not half!" she shouted. "I'm left with twenty dollars."

"That's the punishment for letting your grades fall," he said. "Now get to work. I'll be watching you like a hawk."

" _What_?"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

For the first of Sam's chores, we all went downstairs to the basement, which I've never been to. I'd describe it, but it wasn't that interesting. All that was down there was a washer and dryer, and the room was narrow.

Anyway, Sam threw a bunch of clothes into the washer. We decided to also wash my stuff while I took another shower.

My shower went better than I expected. I paused for a moment when I looked down at the bandage, but I forced myself to ignore it. And lucky me, when it was nearly over Sam knocked on the door. She then threw my clothes at the shower door before walking away.

After that, I didn't see her for the next while. The only time I did, I was asking if I could play that _3D World_ game.

" _Yeah, I wouldn't_ ," she had said. " _Not in front of him_." She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder, where her dad read a magazine. " _Go upstairs and look for my 3DS. I'll see you after these damn chores."_

So there I was, sitting on her bed and messing around with her system. There were a few other _Mario_ games here that I played and ended up liking, if only because of how near-accurate they were to my original adventures.

The games _did_ make me wonder if the people making them have been watching me this past couple of years. Being the Mushroom Kingdom's superstar, I'm used to the occasional stalker. Or Waluigi, I guess, but he'd usually be in my yard to shadow my bro.

If somebody was stalking me in order to make these games, what if they were doing that _right now_? I'm not sure how, with Sam being the only one who can physically see me, but what if it were possible?

Heck, what if it wasn't just those game-making people watching? What if dozens of other guys were here right now judging my every move? What are they thinking about me?

Am I being paranoid, or am I thinking too much?

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"I hate my dad."

I frowned and looked up from the 3DS.

Sam had walked in and locked the bedroom door behind her.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Tell me what time it is."

I clicked the 3DS' home screen button and read off of it, "Seventeen o'clock…?"

"God damn military time," Sam groaned. "Always hated that crap."

"Military time?" I asked.

She didn't elaborate.

"It's gotten pretty late," I said, "if that's anything."

"Whatever," she groused. "Move over. My feet ache."

I did, and she sat down next to me. She squinted at her 3DS.

" _Super Mario 3D Land_?" she said. Her eyes widened. "With five _shining_ stars?!"

I laughed. "Kinda got carried away playing that."

"Geez, Mar. When did you become a speedrunner?"

I blinked.

Before I could ask what a speedrunner was, she added, "It took me ages to finish that damn game. I hated the later special worlds."

"Well, I did "play" the game a while back. Guess that helped."

Sam buried her face in her pillow. She heaved a heavy sigh.

"Forget it," she said. "I'm too tired to deal with anything right now."

And then her hand went up in flames.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Sam flexed her hand. Her eyes narrowed.

"Come on," she mumbled. "Come on…"

She glared down at her left hand and squeezed it into a fist.

We waited.

She shut her eyes. She focused on an image of a raging orange campfire.

We kept waiting.

Sam rested her head on her fist. "It's not working," she said. "I don't feel anything."

"And I can't try that whole lighting-your-hand-on-fire thing again?" I asked.

She glared at me and sternly replied, "No."

"That did work, ya know," I said. "You should learn how to control your power in case it becomes more than those phantom flames."

"And, again, I'm telling you no. I'd rather not repeat what happened last time."

I rose an eyebrow. "Are you talking about how I saw into your memories?"

She turned away.

"Is it?" I asked.

Sam crossed her arms.

I sighed. "Is that connected to that nightmare you had?"

She swiftly spun back towards me and directly met my gaze.

"Is it?" I said again.

She sighed too. She hung her head.

"Fine," she said. "Yes. Yes, it is."

"Well, how about we-"

"Not now," she said. She got up from her bed. "I'm going to make myself some hot chocolate. I think I deserve it after what Father put me through today.

"When you're ready, meet me downstairs. We're going to look for your damn pipe again."

Sam didn't wait for my response. She walked up to her bedroom door, opened it, and lightly shut it behind her.

I was alone.

* * *

 **I understand this may not be the update everyone's looking for, but I figured I should try tackling this damn story again after trying and failing to avoid it for so long.**

 **So I guess I'll be seeing you all next time,**

 **GitS**


	21. A Look Into the Past

**Trigger Warning: mental and physical abuse.**

* * *

 _Sam_

 _"If you're_ still _hungry, order something cheap to go,_ " I said. _"I don't have much money left."_

Mario nodded. He started reading through the menu.

We had gone to the Havenland Diner, which was open twenty-four hours and seven days a week except for Easter and Christmas. Usually, I would sit here alone picking at chicken strips or whatever else was cheap enough to eat. I would try my best to avoid stares and just relax on my lonesome.

Today was different.

Mario ate a french fry. "So," he said once he swallowed it, "do you want to talk here or-"

 _"Not here. Not in front of these people."_

"So where?"

I chomped down on my own fries. _"I'll let you figure that out."_

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Is it too late to climb back up the ladder?" Mario asked.

 _"You're the one who suggested we look in the sewers for a pipe,"_ I said.

"I never thought this place would be so stinky," he said, plugging his nose. "Isn't someone supposed to clean it?"

 _"Nobody here uses the sewers to run about town, Mar. Not unless you're a miscreant…"_ I frowned at a small pile of bones at my feet. _"Or a rat."_

We walked together down a path of solid gray. The water beside us gurgled, carrying waste to who knows where.

Mario coughed into his arm. He moved away from the disgusting river, sputtering, "Even if nobody uses it, th-this… This is disgusting! We hav'ta leave."

 _"What if there's a pipe down here? Hell, what if it were the only one in the world?"_

"The one-way warp from your toilet says otherwise," he said. "We'll be able to find one elsewhere. I'm sure of it."

We stopped at a small clearing. On the wall to our right from us stood another metal ladder.

 _"Let's stop here for now. If the smell gets too much for either of us, we'll leave."_

I sat down by the ladder and pointed my flashlight up at the high ceiling. I never expected the town's sewers to be this spacious. It honestly made me wonder if the place once had another purpose.

Mario joined me. He coughed again.

The smell of… Something amongst the trash got into my nose. I coughed too.

"See what I mean?" he shouted at me. "I'm dead, and I don't think it's possible for me to die again, but what about _you_? If we don't do something, you could suffocate from the fumes."

Without another word, he bounded up the ladder and pushed the manhole open. Then he dropped back down to the floor.

"That's a nice enough compromise, right?" he asked. "Fresh air."

I nodded and huddled by our new source of light.

Mario, once again wearing Father's old coat, laid against the ladder. He met my eyes.

"Is this is the part where I talk?" I asked.

He didn't reply.

I sighed. My gaze wandered from him to the uncovered hole above us.

"Then let me tell you about the last time I ever saw _him_ ," I said. "And, coincidentally, one of the worst memories I have of him."

* * *

 _"Dear!" her father, Stephen, yelled. "Hurry up! The wax is melting!"_

 _Violetta, her mother, fiddled with a flip phone and muttered under her breath. She angled the phone so that its frame could capture both their daughter and the chocolate cake._

 _Sam smiled awkwardly between her parents and her cake. She silently wished she didn't have to do this; she absolutely despised how much attention she got on her birthday. And, seriously, did they have to get the giant bear plush sitting to her right? She would've been perfectly fine just taking the rest of her presents and fleeing back to her room. She already knew that Grandpa Frank and Grandma Katherine got her_ Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness _, and she rather would have been playing that than sitting here right now._

 _"Say cheese!" Stephen said, grinning._

 _Sam didn't. She just smiled so that her teeth showed._

 _Violetta clicked a button and pulled the phone down. "That should good enough," she said._

 _"But she didn't say "cheese"," Stephen said with a groan._

 _"She didn't have to. This is fine, right?"_

 _He leaned over her shoulder to stare at the phone._

 _"It's too blurry," he said. "Try again."_

 _Violetta sighed. She lifted the phone up._

 _"Say cheese this time, Sammy," Stephen said. "Please?"_

 _Sam frowned at him._

 _"Alright. Chee-"_

 _"Where's my money?!"_

 _The parents froze. They looked over their shoulders._

 _"Violet, I want to pay the cable bill_ now _," hissed the new voice. "I'd like my forty dollars."_

 _Violetta closed her eyes._

 _"Didn't… Didn't we pay that a week ago?" Stephen whispered to her._

 _She shrugged her shoulders._

 _"Damn it, Violet," he sighed. "I told you to keep track of our payments."_

 _They both looked up then to see Grandma Katherine standing at the entrance to the kitchen. She glanced over at where the living room was._

 _"Mom?" Stephen asked. "Do you know?"_

 _"You paid him," Katherine said. "The idiot either forgot, or he's extorting you."_

 _"Figures," he said._

"Where's my fucking money?!"

 _Sam flinched._

 _Stephen scowled. The idiot was cursing in front of his child again. The man had absolutely no filter._

"VIOLETTA!" _the man yelled._

 _"I… I should go tend to him," Violetta said. "I'll be right back, dear-"_

 _"No," Stephen said, interrupting her. "Stay with Sam. I'll handle him."_

 _"But-"_

 _"If your dad wants to ruin our daughter's birthday, he'll have to go through me first." With that said, Stephen marched off into the living room._

 _"Wait!" Violetta shouted after him. "No!"_

 _"Steph-" Katherine was cut off by her son._

 _"Mom, I have to put him in his place-"_

 _Violetta screamed._

 _Sam's eyes widened. She ducked beneath the table._

 _What followed was a ton of shouting from both Stephen and her grandfather._

 _Violetta cried. Her sobs intensified when Sam heard a_ WHUMP _._

 _The little girl cringed. She pressed her knees to her chest._

 _"Anyone else wanna fight?!" her grandfather yelled._

 _"Hurt anybody else and I'll gut you like a fish, Robert!" cried a new voice._

 _"Yeah, right," came Robert's response. "Like you would do it, Frank. Where's the bastard child?"_

 _Sam curled up tighter._

 _"Why should I tell you?" Grandpa Frank said. "Keep away from my granddaughter!"_

 _The child in question peeked out from her hiding place._

 _Her dad caught her eye._

 _Sam forced herself back behind the table. Her heart pounded and she trembled all over._ I guess we're not having cake…?

 _Stephen glared at Robert and bent down next to the table. "Sam," he said, "come out."_

 _She whimpered but crawled out to his side. She sniffled._

 _Stephen wrapped his arms around her and stood up with a grunt. "I've had enough of this," he growled. "We're leaving."_

 _"Good riddance!" Robert shouted gleefully. "Have fun living in the streets, boy!"_

 _Stephen looked over at the woman he loved. "Are you coming," he asked, "Violet?"_

 _She hung her head._

 _"Violetta," he said._

 _She turned away from him._

"Please," _he whispered. "Leave with us."_

 _"I can't," she whispered back. "He's my father. I can't abandon him."_

 _"You can!" he said, raising his voice. "Don't pretend you can't!"_

 _"Looks like she knows better than to go with the real piece of shit in this family," Robert snickered._

 _Stephen exhaled. He tightly hugged his shaking daughter. "Fine," he said. "I'll be leaving and taking Sammy with me. Goodbye, Violet._

 _"...See you later, mom and dad."_

 _He turned and headed for the front door._

 _"Hope you drop dead, Stephen!" Robert called out from behind him. "And your daughter too!"_

* * *

"My grandparents on Father's side of the family moved out shortly after the incident. Now they live a few hours away from us.

"My mom, though? I haven't heard from her in a long time. I can only imagine the abuse Robert could be inflicting on her right now, assuming he's still alive."

Mario just sat there.

"I had to live with him for _nine_ years, Mar. Robert got angry when I wouldn't listen to him. If he wanted you to sit at the dinner table, he would scream that dinner was about the "family" until you did. Whenever I tried avoiding him for extended periods of time or not sit at the dining room table, he would break into my room with a butter knife, threaten to tear down my door, and curse me out.

"That's not even getting into his other insanity. He sometimes stole our neighbor's packages, claim them as his own, and somehow never got arrested. He hoarded toilet paper and refused to give us more when we ran out. The ass even ate all of our food sometimes!

"And what did people say about our situation? Deal with it _. Deal. With. It._ 'Oh, so sorry you're stuck with him. You can't go anywhere, though. You're not _that_ rich'.

"It wasn't until Father got fed up enough of our life in Brooklyn that…" I stopped. My face grew red-hot. The world before me blurred. "That he and I left. We ended up staying at a colleague of his' house until he scraped enough money from part-time jobs to get a house out here in the country. And maybe I don't have the courage to tell him; maybe I don't ever express it, but I'm grateful he got us out of there. I…"

I broke. I literally broke.

"You have no idea how much I want Robert dead!" I shouted at Mario. "He ruined my childhood, and even if he isn't in my life anymore, the memories of him are. He always wanted to pick a fight with someone, and almost always sat in front of his stupid television. Consequences for him never were long-term, while I'd receive week-long punishments for not doing the dishes.

"Worse still, whenever Dennis and his crew pick on me, they bring a lot of those bad memories back. Do you know how long I've had to resist killing them? I can't stand being talked down. It makes me angry and… A-and…"

Tears fell down my cheeks. Snot, _dear god_ the snot that came from my nose. I shoved my face in my arms, letting sobs overtake my body.

Something warm landed on my back. I tensed and felt it withdraw as quickly as it came.

"S-sorry," Mario whimpered.

I lifted my head.

We met eyes.

"Sam," he softly said, "I had no idea."

I sniffled.

"He had no right to treat you and your family that way! I hope you know that you didn't deserve an ounce of the abuse, Sam."

"Mario," I muttered. "Thank… Thank you." I wiped my tears on my sleeves and laughed bitterly. "I shouldn't be crying like this. It's pathetic."

"No, it's not! It's fine! Yo-you're fine!"

Mario and I blinked at one another.

"That... That wasn't you," I said, "was it?"

He shook his head.

I wiped my face on the sleeve of my coat again before standing up. "Alright," I yelled into the darkness. "Who's there?! Show-"

"I surrender!"

The dim glow of my flashlight landed on the individual. The wide-eyed look on his freckled face just about screamed "deer in the headlights".

I took a step back. The flashlight in my hand trembled wildly. It took a moment for the reality of the situation to set in, which upon I yelled-

 _"Dennis?!"_


	22. Dennis Bard

_Sam_

The redhead flinched.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" I yelled at him.

"What the hell are _you_ doing here with _that_?" Dennis retorted, gesturing at Mario.

Mario's eyes lit up. "You can see me?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Were you following us?" I asked him. After a short pause, in which he watched me with his mouth agape, I said, "Actually, nevermind. You were. How about _why_ you followed us?"

"You didn't answer my question," he said.

"You aren't answering mine either," I said.

"How about you answer mine first?"

"No, you."

"Sam, I won't hurt you, or belittle you, or-"

"Yeah right, asshole," I growled. "Ever since the day I moved here, you took it upon yourself to insult and _physically injure_ me." I made a gesture of jabbing my elbow into my gut. "You and your friends-"

"Sam, please."

Geez. Since when was I obligated to listen to him? "You're disgusting. You're easily the second-worst person I've ever had to deal with-"

He opened his mouth.

"Don't talk," I said. "Turn around and forget what you saw. I want nothing to do with you or your friends. I want to-"

"Sit here in the sewers with only this _thing_ listening to you?"

I shut my eyes to contain my incoming tears. "Mario is _not_ a "thing"!" I shouted back at him. "He is _real_ and he doesn't stoop to what you do. He-"

"Mario?"

I growled in frustration.

"Yup!" Mario chirped.

"Mario?" Dennis repeated, this time slower.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Like Mario Mario?" Dennis asked. "You couldn't seriously be that guy, could you?"

I didn't hear the next response. I assumed Mario had been nodding the whole time.

At least until I heard the scratch of a pen against paper.

"'It'sa me, Mario'?" Dennis read off the sheet. "Wow, your handwriting sucks."

Mario chuckled at this.

"So you're him?" he said. "You're really him?"

"'As real as I can be,'" came his next message.

"If you are him, do something, um, Mario-ish."

A moment later, I heard Mario's shoes repeatedly click against the ground.

"Holy-" Dennis gasped. "You've been living with Nintendo's mascot and you didn't want to report it to the media or something?!" he shouted. "You're crazy!"

"Thanks for stating the obvious," I grumbled. "Ass."

Something soft landed on my arm.

I opened my eyes to find Mario beside me.

"Sam," Mario said, "it's okay. He's trying to be nice."

 _"He has ulterior motives,"_ I said, shaking him off. _"He wants to hurt me again."_

"Give him a chance. Trust me."

 _"No."_

"Please?"

 _"No."_

"Sam."

 _"I want nothing to do with Dennis, Mar. Get it through your thick skull already."_

"He flinched when you called him an "ass"."

 _"Good. I'm glad that he's scared of me._

"That's not good at all!"

 _"Don't care. I'm leaving."_

Dennis stood there in his black winter coat. He extended his hand out to me.

 _"I'm not having any part in this,"_ I said, turning away from him.

Mario folded his arms. "We can't let him go when he's found out about me," he said.

"But I told you 'no'!" I yelled, feeling the heat collect in my eyes once again. "If you're not going to respect that, leave."

"No, Sam," he said. "If he tries anything funny, he'll hav'ta go through me." After a short pause, he also said, "Hold on a second."

I heard footsteps echo as the two of them retreated some ways behind me. This was followed by the rip of paper and some hurried whispering.

A loud slap echoed down the corridor. A part of me wondered if Mario had either smacked the wall or Dennis. The latter idea sounded a lot more satisfying to me.

"Mama mia," Mario grumbled aloud.

A short moment later, I heard the sound of a pen scratching against a page.

"Got it," Dennis quickly muttered back, "Absolutely should've not done that."

There was some more scribbling.

He gasped. "Ri-right."

"I'm glad you're very honest about that," Mario said with a sigh. "Still..." He wrote a bit more on the page.

I'm not sure how long this happened for. When it did finally end, I heard footsteps coming back my way.

"Sam?" Dennis asked.

I didn't respond.

"I've been a horrible person," he said.

I rolled my eyes. _"That's probably the greatest understatement of the year."_

"So I want to say-"

"Let me guess," I said. "You're _sorry. So_ sorry."

"...Yeah?"

 _"Please."_

"That's why-"

"You and your friends will leave me alone?"

Silence.

"Well?" I said.

"I want to get to know you," he said. "I want to-"

I turned and fixed a glare on him. "Get to know _me_?" I asked.

"Forget Rick and Theo; I'll tell them to back off." His voice trailed off. He slowly offered his hand to me once again. "But my name is Dennis Bard, and I want to be your friend."

Friend. The word almost seemed to echo in my mind, making me hesitate. _Friend_. He wanted to be my…?

No. This was stupid. I don't care if Mario, who enabled this stupid conversation, liked to give people second chances. I wasn't about to throw my anger aside because Dennis walked in on me at a bad time. He deliberately followed me and witnessed something I meant to only share with someone I came to trust.

Dennis' other hand reached up to his neck. He tugged at a blue scarf wrapped around his neck until it came loose.

"Here," he said, holding it up to me, "take this. It'd be better to wipe your face on than your coat."

I stared at the scarf. "Is this only because _Mario's_ involved?" I said. "You probably want to leech-"

"For Christ's sake, Sam!" he yelled over me, throwing his arms up. "I'm here because I care about you."

"What."

"You've been acting strangely. I didn't realize it sooner; I'm an idiot, but something's been pretty different about you lately. Remember the day you wore contact lenses?"

Mario frowned at me.

I frowned back at him. "That was Mario," I said. "Not me."

Now it was Dennis' turn to give me a flat, "What."

"Mario ended up possessing me because of some strange link we have between us. Apparently, if I go far enough away from him, he gets dragged along."

Mario nodded to confirm this.

Dennis' eyes widened. "That explains why "you," told Rick you were him," he said.

"And everything after that," I grumbled, glaring at Mario.

His face flushed red. He laughed a little.

"Then there was what happened tonight," Dennis said. "I looked out my window past ten p.m. on a Saturday night and saw you and another figure leave your house. I don't know much about you, but I've never seen you go out that late before."

"So you followed me," I hissed back. "Like a creep."

He hung his head. "Guess I've been coming off like that, huh?" he said. " _And_ I've been an asshole."

"Yeah," Mario said, nodding. He had a scowl on his face.

 _"Is there something I should know?"_ I asked him. _"It feels like I should."_

"It's fine," he responded. "I may have threatened to do something to him if I ever find him sitting on the roof by your bedroom window."

"He _what_?"

"It's alright, Sam," he said. "He knows that I'll be stepping in if he makes you uncomfortable, and-"

"That's _not alright_!" I said. "He's an asshole _and_ a creep! Stalking is _not_ okay, no matter what your intentions are. I say we kill the bastard and dump his body in the river-"

 _"Police! Come out with your hands up!"_

We all froze.

"Shit," Dennis said.

I swallowed.

He shoved the scarf at me. "Take this, and follow me," he ordered, keeping his voice low. "And, for the love of God, _shut up_."

The three of us took off down the corridor.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

We ran for a while. Dennis led the way with me trailing close behind while Mario watched for any sort of pursuers.

All I heard was the pounding sound of our feet and the trickle of the water next to us. My mind raced, torn between thoughts of the boy running ahead and what could happen if law enforcement caught us. There was no way I wanted to be jailed. Hell, there was no way I wanted to be caught _alive_ with my creep of a next-door neighbor.

"I think we might be okay now," Dennis said through his ragged breaths. "Let's rest here."

We all came to a stop at a crossroads.

Dennis turned on a flashlight and pointed it straight ahead. "We're by the town hall. If we go straight, we'll eventually reach Mount Havenland. If we go right, it'll lead us across town and hopefully either on or by our street."

"And you know that how?" I asked between heaving breaths.

"I used to spend a lot of time down here," he said.

My eyebrows rose. "You did?" I said.

He nodded and leaned against the wall. "Back in middle school, I knew a guy who lived down here," he said. "A few friends and I would come to the sewers during the weekends to hang out with him." He scratched the back of his head. "He was cool, I guess. Eccentric, but cool."

"What happened to him?" I questioned.

Dennis shrugged. "I don't know," he replied. "He disappeared one day, and nobody's seen him since.

"Point is, I know where we are and where we have to go. When you want to keep moving, just say the word."

I sat against the wall. Since my eyes were fresh with tears, I buried my face in Dennis' scarf. Perhaps it'd been a good idea after all for him to give it to me.

I heard shuffling. I tilted my head toward the noise.

"Are you feeling alright?" came Mario's question.

 _"I'm out of breath and stuck with_ him _. What else is there to say?"_

"No, I mean after telling me that story earlier. How are you feeling?"

 _"I guess… Relieved. That was the first time in a long time anyone was willing actually listen to me."_ I looked up into his eyes. _"Before you, everyone either told me they were "sorry" for what I went through or brushed me off completely. So thanks again, Mar. I'm glad you're not like them."_

He plopped down on the floor next to me. "You don't hav'ta thank me, ya know," he said. "That's what friends do."

There was that word again. "Friend". We've only known each other for two weeks, and that's what he already saw me as.

 _"...Right,"_ I said.

He laid his head against the wall. "Alrighty," he said. Then he crossed one leg over the other, threw his hands behind his head, and stared up at the ceiling high above us.

If Mar saw me as a friend, did I feel the same way? If I did, how was I supposed to express it? Maybe...

 _"Mar?"_ I said _. "Could I, um, hug you?"_

He smiled at me. "I thought you'd never ask," he said.

A strange sense of relief swept over me. I scooted closer to him.

He sat back up and faced me.

I hesitated. Was it supposed to be me who pulled him into a hug, or him who pulled me into a hug?

Mario snorted, probably having somehow read my non-thoughts again, and reached forward. My head came to rest on top of his, while his arms wrapped around me.

I willed myself to relax. Unlike last time, I didn't want to break loose. I asked for this, and if I came to regret it, I'd have to pin the blame on myself.

I had no regrets, though. I simply put on the biggest grin I could manage and squeezed him as tightly as he squeezed me.

That night, we didn't find a warp pipe. I instead learned to appreciate the friend I had, even if he was a supernaturally-talented Italian plumber with no high school diploma.

Dennis Bard, on the other hand…


	23. An Uncomfortable Conversation

**I've been debating whether or not to put this (admittedly short) chapter up. It talks about most of the days between Mario and Sammy's sewer adventure before what happens in the next chapter (Which is now Chapter 24, if you haven't noticed. Hehe). On the other hand…**

 **Well, let's just say we're about to delve into some… Stuff here. I'm not saying it'll happen to them in the future but given the main characters' opposite genders and their situation, they'd have to discuss it at some point. Feel free to skip this chapter if that sort of stuff is uncomfortable for you.**

 **GitS**

* * *

 _Mario_

Sam used to be this angry person who always locked herself behind a door before I came along. Memories of the past constantly bothered her, and her isolated life hadn't helped. So it sorta scared me how her personality completely flipped in the days following our adventure in the sewers.

Right after we got back to her house, I caught her setting up pillows and blankets on the floor of her bedroom. I sat on her bed to watch her as she worked.

"Oh, this?" she said when I asked. 'I figured you would want a better place to sleep than my desk chair."

"Sam," I said, "I've been perfectly fine there."

"With no blankets?" she said. "Not even a pillow, when I know you've been carrying one and not using it? You deserve better than that old chair." She turned away from me to smooth out a bedsheet.

I watched her for a long moment. I didn't expect her to do something like this. I never cared if she "repaid" me in some way for sticking around her. I just wanted to be her friend.

So I let Sam finish her work. From then on, I slept on the floor.

After that incident, I caught the occasional crack of a smile from Sam whenever something funny was said or done. Although she didn't laugh at things, like when Tabitha accidentally rolled off her bed, her grin said all I needed to know.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

That Monday, we sat in a quiet hallway far from the lunch crowd at Sam's school.

 _"Why am I taking a health class in twelfth grade,"_ she thought, sighing. "They _taught me this crap in middle school."_

I lifted a hand up in a half-shrug. "It's a good refresher, I guess," I said.

 _"That doesn't change that I feel uncomfortable talking about it_ ," she _said. "It doesn't help either that you've possessed me before, and you're a guy. What if you ended up taking over during…"_ She cringed.

"What are you talking about- Oh." I stopped myself and cringed as well. "You mean…"

 _"You know what I mean."_

That particular conversation soured our mood for the rest of the day. Sam and I avoided each other when we got back to her house, and I ended up eating dinner alone in the kitchen.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

On Tuesday, Sam walked into the living room. She dropped her bookbag on the floor next to me.

"Morning?" I said.

"Morning," she replied, sitting on the couch. She stared at the floor rather than at me.

My eyebrows rose. "Is something wrong?" I asked.

"Mar," she said, "you're a guy."

"Yeah?" I said. "We established that yesterday."

"And I'm a girl," she said.

"Uh-huh…"

"And girls have… _Things_ that happen to them every month, and…"

"Sam, stop dancing around the issue," I said. "You said it yourself yesterday. I know what you mean."

She went silent.

"Peach goes through this once a month too," I said. I then held up my white gloves. "How many times do you think I've washed these because of her? A _ton_."

"But _what if_ you possessed me while it happened? I don't know if I could trust you to-"

I shut off the TV with the remote and inhaled a deep breath.

"Sammy," I said, exhaling.

She scowled at me.

"I would never do anything to hurt you," I said. "If it ever turns out I somehow regain control over your body and you have… Problems, at the same time, I'll do what I can to solve them."

She continued watching me.

"I want you to comfortable," I said. "I've seen how that stuff's affected women before."

"You've never experienced it yourself," she said. "You wouldn't know anything."

"Well, I do know Pauline gets more upset when she's having problems, and it's harder for Peach to deal with that _and_ wear what she does on a daily basis.

"What about Daisy?"

"I wouldn't know. I never knew her that well."

"So I can take your word for it?" Sam said, staring me straight in the eyes. "You wouldn't try anything funny?"

I nodded.

"You're _sure_?"

I nodded again.

"I can have complete confidence in you?"

I nodded a third time.

She sat back and shut her eyes.

We sat in silence for a good long time.

I debated switching the TV back on. There was still around a half-hour until Sam's bus came. Watching a bit of the news couldn't hurt us.

I grabbed the remote and clicked the "ON" button.

As the newscaster's voice faded in, another person's cut into it. "Mario?"

I stared up at Sam.

"Whatever happens," she said, "I'll trust you."


	24. A Valentine's Day Breakfast

**I'd appreciate if people could point out any times I might've repeated details during a chapter/this fic. I've found it to be a problem in recent pieces I've written and would like to exorcise the habit out of myself.**

 **GitS**

* * *

 _Mario_

My nose twitched from a strange, yet familiar smell. I sat up and glanced over at where Sam always slept.

I didn't see her there. Her blankets dangled over the bed's edge.

I got up and made my way to the door. Oddly enough, Sam left it open a crack. In the past two _weeks,_ I'd known her, she always made sure to completely shut it. Did she maybe forget to close it today?

My stomach rumbled. I followed the scent downstairs and to the kitchen. I peeked into the room.

Sam stood over the stove. She held a spatula in one hand and wore an oven mitt on the other.

 _"Mario?"_

I nearly jumped. "Yeah," I said. "It'sa me."

"You came right in time," Sam said. "I'm nearly done with the sausages."

"Sausages?" I repeated.

"If you don't want that, take the eggs or waffles instead," she said. "I don't care."

"Eggs?" I said. "Waffles? Since when did you…"

She put her oven mitt to her hip, groaning. "What? I can't cook for you?"

I shook my head. "No, no!" I said. "That's fine!" I grinned at her. "You'd do a way better job at making the eggs than I would."

She snorted and slightly turned her head to me. "I'll let you be the judge of that," she said, her mouth curving upwards. "Take a seat."

I grabbed my pillow from my pockets that allowed me to reach the table and hopped into one of the kitchen chairs.

"Did you have a good night's sleep?" Sam asked me.

"Yeah," I said.

"That's great," she said.

"Did you?" I questioned.

She turned around to face me. "Aside from waking up early…" Her smirk grew into a smile. "Check this out."

She stepped aside and gestured at the stove.

I watched it for a moment. "Check what out?" I asked.

"Come on!" Sam groaned. "It's so obvious!" She pointed at the stove's knobs. "Are any of these on?"

I tilted my head and stared at them. All of the dials looked to be off. The orange fire under the frying pan burned anyway.

"Do you still not get it?" Sam said. She flicked her left hand. An orange light sprang to life in her palm.

 _"What?!"_ I cried, shooting outta my seat.

"I can make fire!" she shouted excitedly. "I can summon it whenever I want now, although I don't know why. It doesn't burn me and doesn't burn anything unless I want it to. I've been using it to cook breakfast instead of the stove-"

"Slow down!" I yelled over her. "What did you say?!"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Do it again," I said.

Sam flicked her wrist. When her palm came back up, she grasped a fireball.

I blinked.

"Mar," she groaned, "I can't believe it's hard for you to accept this."

"It's so _sudden_ ," I said. "You couldn't summon it willingly before. To go from that to _this_ …" I gestured at her hand. "I don't get it."

"I woke up sweating," she said. "When I opened my eyes, I found orange flames covering my entire body. I threw myself to the floor to try to stop, drop, and roll."

"'Stop, drop, and roll'?" I asked.

"People say to do that if you catch fire."

"Oh."

"The flames wouldn't go out no matter what I did. I yelled for your help… You never answered."

I hung my head. "I'm sorry-"

"That's when I realized the flames weren't burning into my skin. They instead covered me head to toe like a cacoon, and were comfortably warm." She smiled. "Eventually, I willed them away… And I checked my phone."

"Well," I said, "that was anticlimactic."

She shrugged and shook her head. "That's not the end of it," she said. "It turns out that today's Valentine's Day. It's this _stupid_ holiday solely for lovebirds."

"That sounds cute," I replied. "We don't celebrate anything like that in the Mushroom Kingdom."

"America could do better," she said. "Our holidays are commercialized. But getting back to the original story, I wanted to cook today. You're always the one doing it and, um…"

"Yeah?"

I didn't need an answer from her. The slight red tint in her cheeks told me all I had to know.

" _Anyway_ ," she said, her voice rising, "I wanted to make breakfast. When I turned on the stove and the fire underneath the frying pan lit, I felt this weird urge to "grab" the flames and tug on them. I did, and I watched the fire from the stove. I played around with and disposed of it in the sink.

"When I turned away, I saw my hand holding another fireball. I eventually figured that to properly dispose of it, I had to flick my wrist." She did so. When her palm came up, the fireball disappeared into thin air. "Cool, right?"

"I still don't understand," I said. "This doesn't just _happen_."

"But it did," she said.

"I'm a star child and it still took me a while to master the abilities I got. How can you do that effortlessly?"

"Considering all that's happened, what if it's because of you?"

I frowned. "Me?" I asked.

"Think about it, Mar," Sam said. "Before you showed up, I was a normal high schooler… Well, as normal as a teenager could be. I would say you're making this," she stopped to grasp her wrist and hold her palm out to me, "happen."

"I guess it makes sense…" I said. "If we're going off this theory that I'm influencing you, why are you developing fire powers?"

"What do you mean?"

"There's a reason why I'm called _Jumpman_ , remember?"

"...Right."

I dropped the fork I'd held and got to my feet. "How about we test something?" I said. "Try jumping."

She tilted her head.

"Ya know," I said, "like this?" I leaped into the air, pumping my fist, and landed gracefully back on the floor.

Sam stared at me.

"What?" I questioned her.

She sighed. "Well," she said, "as long as I don't look like a fool…"

"I'm the only one here," I reassured her. "Don't worry about it."

She rolled her eyes and muttered. "Fine," she then said to me. "Uh… How do I-"

"Bend your knees, throw a fist in the air, and leap for the ceiling. Throw in a "Wahoo," if you wanna."

Her eyes hardened. "I," she said, slapping a hand over her chest, "am _not_ "wahoo" ing."

I shrugged my shoulders and backed away from her. "Alright," I said, "I thought I'd suggest it."

Sam gave me a scowl. Her knees bent slightly, and she slowly rose her fist.

I nodded. "You're gettin' it. Now…"

She leaped into the air. She flew maybe a foot into the air, two feet up, and up towards the ceiling- Wait, why were there orange flames trailing her feet-

 _"Augh!"_

Sam laid in a crumpled heap next to me. Shudders went down her spine.

I dove to the floor beside her and grabbed her head.

"Are you okay?!" I shouted at her.

She didn't answer.

 _"Sam?!"_ I said, lightly smacking her cheek.

Her body relaxed.

I gasped and smacked her a tiny bit harder. "Get up!" I yelled.

She still wouldn't move.

I shoved two fingers under her neck and sighed with relief when I felt a pulse.

"You're okay," I said, unsure if she could hear me. Or maybe I was trying to reassure to myself? "There's no blood and your body's working. You're breathing, right… Yeah, you're breathing. It's a hard hit to the head, maybe even a concussion. You'll live-"

She gasped. Her eyes opened.

"You're up!" I exclaimed. "Thank the stars!"

I helped her sit up and threw an arm over her back.

She laid her head over mine. "I'm-I'm fine," she quietly said, trembling again.

"It's okay," I said. "Take it slow."

"My head," she said. "It-It hurts. M-Mar…"

"This is my fault," I told her. "I didn't expect you to do that."

She started sitting up when I stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"Relax," I ordered her. "I'll get you upstairs."

She shook her head and opened her mouth.

"Yes," I said before she could speak, "I know. You hav'ta go to school and keep your dad happy, but not today. Let me help you."

She shut her eyes. She exhaled and nodded.

I slipped a hand under her legs and used my other one to support her back. Then I lifted her up.

"You'll be okay," I said. "Maybe it's not a concussion after all; maybe this whole thing of me sharing my powers with you's gonna protect you from that. If not that, maybe you'll be lucky and-"

I noticed Tabitha way too late and tripped over her. Sam and I crashed to the ground, and my world went dark.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

 _"Mar?"_ I heard Sam's voice call. _"Where are you?"_

I woke up sitting against a wall in Sam's kitchen. I glanced around the room.

"Sam?" I asked.

I flinched. My head jerked back to staring at the opposite wall. _"_ _Was that_ my _mouth you're talking out of?"_

I blinked.

I blinked again.

"And that wasn't me," I said. "I didn't tell me to blink again."

"I did that," Sam said, talking out of her own mouth. "What's going on…?"

I rose my, or maybe I should call it _Sam's_ hand? I waved it in front of my face.

The other hand, or the hand Sam controlled, shot up and grabbed my, or her, hand. Wow, this was getting confusing.

I tore my controlled hand outta her's.

She dropped her's.

We sat there.

She blinked again.

"Well," I said, hearing Sam's voice come out of my, or her, mouth, "this is new."


	25. Mario's Letter

_Mario_

 _"I jinxed it,"_ Sam said. _"I'm telling you, I_ jinxed _it."_

" _Jinxed what?"_ I said to myself. _"What is she talking about?"_

 _"We had that whole conversation a while ago?"_ she said. _"It was about how we're different genders—"_

 _"I know,"_ I said.

She blinked. _"You aren't using my mouth,"_ she said. " _Don't tell me…"_ She frowned. Her mind went silent.

I rolled her eyes up to her forehead.

 _"I can only hear you speak to me,"_ she said. _"You're still your own entity."_

 _"But can I still read your mind?"_ I asked.

She folded her arms.

 _"...Maybe I'm already in it."_

Sam got to her, or our, feet. _"Mar,"_ she said, "don't _move a muscle._ _I'm taking us upstairs, and I'm getting dressed for school."_

I made her cringe. _"Wouldn't that require me to…"_

 _"I probably have complete control over myself as long as you don't move,"_ she said. _"So try turning your thoughts inward. I'll make it quick."_

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

 _Mario heard a knock at the door. He let out a frustrated sigh._

 _"Who's there?" he shouted._

 _"It's me!" Cappy shouted back. "You locked the door again!"_

 _Mario jumped up from his seat. He made his way to the front door of the Odyssey and unlatched the chain holding the door closed._

 _Cappy let himself in. He flew over to his usual seat beside his friend's._

 _"Thank you,"_ _he said. "I thought I'd turn in for the night…" He glanced about._

 _Dozens of paper balls were scattered around the floor. They covered every inch of the rug Mario bought from Shiveria and left something of a trail from the closet to Mario's seat._

 _"Is this why you wouldn't come out today?" Cappy said._

 _"...Yeah," Mario said._

 _He floated down to the mess, picked a paper ball off the floor, and unwrapped it. He squinted at the page. "What's this supposed to say?" he said, holding the page up for Mario to see. "I can't read it."_

 _Mario's face burned when he read the page. He ripped it from Cappy's little arms._

 _"Th-that's nothing!" Mario shouted. "Nothing, I swear!"_

 _Cappy blinked. "Are you sure?" he asked, giving him a quizzical stare._

 _"That one's too…" Mario paused to find the right word. "...Adult in its approach."_

 _"Oh," he said, turning a little red too. "So what are you working on?"_

 _Mario crumpled the paper back up and threw it at his closet. The ball bounced off of it and landed on the floor._

 _"I'm writing a letter," Mario said. "It's for Peach."_

 _Cappy's eyes grew. "Really?!" he shouted excitedly. "Could I write something for my sister?"_

 _Mario frowned. He hugged his notepad to his chest. "I dunno," he said. "I feel like I've worked up to something good here, and I want to keep this between Peach and me."_

 _"How about you read it for me?" Cappy said, coming over to float behind him._

 _Mario grinned awkwardly. "Um, sure?" he answered. "It's about what happened on the Moon, and—"_

 _"You can do it," Cappy said. "I won't judge."_

 _Mario cleared his throat._

* * *

Dear Peach,

Hey. How are you?

It's been a couple of weeks, right? I haven't been able to keep track with all this traveling I've been doing lately. Or maybe the lack of traveling I've been doing? I don't know; Cappy's kept me in the Seaside Kingdom for the last few days. He seems to have a thing for the ocean. Not that I'm complaining; I just wish those snails would quit staring at me whenever I hit the beach.

I've seen you around but we haven't really "talked" since that whole thing on the Moon. You're busy with your world tour that, and I'm honestly afraid to personally talk to you. If I bring up what happened at Bowser's "wedding", wouldn't you only get angry? I don't want to upset you again—

* * *

 _"Yoink!" Cappy shouted, pulling the letter from Mario's hands._

 _"Hey!" Mario yelled after him. "Give me that back."_

 _"No," he simply said. He doodled on the page with the pen that had been attached to the notepad._

 _"Cappy, this_ my _letter to_ my—"

 _"Oh, lighten up a little!"_

 _Mario got up from his seat and lunged at Cappy. He grabbed the notepad back from him._

 _Cappy dropped the pen. He gave his friend a downtrodden look and floated back down to his seat._

 _Mario picked up the fallen pen from the table between their seats. He read over what Cappy wrote down:_

* * *

Cappy, give me it back.

No.

Cappy, this is MY letter to MY—

Oh, lighten up a little!

* * *

 _Mario let out a big groan. Cappy's vandalism ruined his letter, and he had a good start this time!_

 _He reached for his notepad. He could salvage what he wrote if he had more paper, but that wasn't going to happen. All the notepad had left was the brown sheet at often came at the end of its life._

 _He saw a drawing of Cappy at the side of it and picked up his letter._

 _"Come on…" he said, shaking his head. He had tried to be serious here!_

 _His gut told him to ditch this version of his letter. He decided he'd have to suck it up, though. He didn't know where he could find more paper, especially with how any and all shops around here closed with the sunset._

 _He picked up the pen and continued to write:_

* * *

He wrote our argument down?!

Well, I'm not going back now. This is probably my thirty-fifth attempt at a letter.

As I was trying to say… I'm sorry for everything. The impromptu proposal, letting myself get angry when Bowser cut in… I was being impulsive. I thought because there was a wedding hall right on the Moon and it was all set up, we could use that and, you know, get married. Everyone seems to expect it at this point. I didn't want to let them all down.

The way I worded that sounds kinda pushy. Just 'cause they "expect" it?

Is it possible we could chat after you get this? My apology would sound more sincere if you heard it from me instead of this letter.

What I really want is to see you again, Peach. You're the reason why I can smile every day.

Love,

Mario

* * *

 _"Ahem…"_

 _Mario put down his letter and saw Cappy in front of him. Cappy clutched a certain red hat to his chest._

 _"I'm not giving this back unless you send that version," Cappy said._

 _Mario rolled his eyes. "Such a kid…" he mumbled. He wrote one last thing in his letter to his princess:_

* * *

P.S. Cappy's holding my hat hostage. Say hi to Tiara for us, alright?

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

 _"Mar?"_ Sam said. _"I'm done."_

I exhaled. _"You are?"_

I found myself standing in Sam's closet. I picked at the red sweater she put on.

 _"Not bad,"_ I said.

 _"I found it in the back of my closet,"_ Sam said. _"What do you think?"_

 _"Looks good,"_ I answered. _"And you're pairing it up with…"_

 _"A pair of black sweatpants and my regular sneakers,"_ she told me, showing them off in our shared vision. _"You're fine with this too?"_

 _"...Yeah."_

Her eyes rolled upwards. _"Is something wrong with them?"_

 _"It's not about the clothes,"_ I said. " _I remembered writing a letter to Peach."_

 _"Is this another one of your lost memories?"_

 _"No, I'm pretty sure that's always been there. I guess I specifically remembered it today because…"_

 _"It's Valentine's Day,_ " she finished for me. _"You miss Peach."_

I hung our head. To avoid confusing myself, maybe I should refer to our body parts like that from now on.

 _"We'll find a way back to your home,"_ she said, _"I swear. Right now we need to play the part of a_ regular _high school senior. If everything goes well, and_ you get the hell out of my body, w _e'll have plenty of time to search during my winter break."_

 _"Which will be…"_

 _"I'll be off next week, Mar."_

I smiled. _"That sounds great."_

Sam bit down on our lip. _"Yeah, yeah. Don't pull crap like that, by the way. Let me deal with everything."_

 _"Wait, one question,"_ I said. _"How are we gonna handle Dennis? He knows that I exist."_

 _"Ignore him. He'll seem crazy if he says anything about you to anybody, especially with how we are now."_

A strange sound filled our ears. It blared and made a little musical jingle that stayed in my head seconds after it stopped.

I flinched.

Sam clenched our teeth.

 _"What… Was that?"_ I questioned.

 _"The doorbell,"_ Sam told me. _"I've forgotten how loud it sounds from here. We don't normally get visitors."_

Sam opened the door to her closet and turned off the light within it. She shut it behind us.

 _"Should we go see who it is?"_ I asked.

 _"Way ahead of you,"_ she said.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Sam opened the front and screen doors. She looked around the porch.

 _"There's nobody here,"_ she said.

 _"Maybe the doorbell malfunctioned?"_ I said.

 _"Or maybe…"_ She glanced at the ground.

A red hat laid on the welcome mat. Sam picked it up.

 _"Is this your's?"_ she asked me. _"It's got a 'M' on it..."_

 _"No,"_ I said. _"Mine's upstairs, and it's not_ that _small."_

" _You're right,"_ she said. _"This_ _looks like it would fit on my head."_ She closed the front door.

 _"Who would abandon a hat on your doorstep?"_

 _"Dennis?"_ Sam said, shrugging. _"The only other person I know who knows I play Nintendo games is Father, and it makes no sense for him to leave me a present at our doorstep."_

 _"The culprit could be anybody."_

 _"_ Sure, _Mar. Some high-ranking government official came over to my house and left me a hat._ Sure." She went over to the stairs. _"Let's grab my bookbag and get to school. We'll deal with Dennis later."_


	26. Emotions

_Sam_

 _"Homeroom,"_ I internally sighed.

 _"Homeroom?"_ Mar repeated.

 _"We'll have to go there first,"_ I said, glancing up at the bulletin board. _"All students report to their homerooms once a month for special events."_

 _"Oh."_

 _"Worse,"_ I said, turning away from the notice, _"the homerooms are sorted by last names. Mine starts with a "B", so I need to report my astronomy teacher. But do you know who else's last name starts with a "B"?"_

 _"Who?"_ he said.

I made my way down the hallway. _"I'll give you a hint. It starts with a "D" and has the epithet "the Menace"."_

 _"Dennis… The Menace?"_

 _"Yep."_

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Good morning!" my astronomy teacher, Mr. West, shouted over the students. "Please return to your seats."

When everyone settled into their chairs, he walked to the front of the room. He carried a small cardboard box in his arms.

"Let's kick our little party off with some snacks," he said, setting the box down on his desk. "I'll give you a few minutes to pick something from the box. Then I'll be picking two people," he dropped two small tan bags next to the box, "to hand out these Valentines."

I rolled my eyes.

 _"Do you not want one?"_ Mario asked.

 _"I thought it was obvious that I don't care about Valentine's Day,"_ I said. _"Have I not trashed Dennis enough?"_

Several students made their way to the front. They took out various bags of chips, pretzels, and in one ninth grader's case, a small box of cheese fish crackers from the box.

Mario eyed the latter's snack. He slowly rose from our seat.

 _"Is it alright if we get something to eat?"_ he said.

 _"Fine,"_ I said.

We went over to the box and peered inside.

Mario picked up a carton of those cheese fish crackers.

 _"You won't throw them at somebody again,"_ I said, _"right? Because I can think of a good candidate—"_

 _"Sam, stop it,"_ he said, shaking our head. _"You may not like that boy, but I'm not about to hit him in the noggin with stuff."_

 _"What if someone says that you don't look like you're twenty-four again?"_

He went silent.

We took the carton and went back to our seat. I watched the rest of the class dig through the box, including Dennis, who grabbed two bags of pretzels before disappearing back into the small sea of students.

When the last person sat down, Mr. West took the box and put it behind his desk.

"Now that that's over with," he said, "how about we have…" His eyes scanned the room.

I ducked my head. I pretended to be looking down at my bag, pondering how my actual school day will go.

"Angelina?" he called, "You'll be handling the girls' Valentines. Dennis will hand out the boys'."

 _"Guess I'll continue leaving my head down,"_ I said with a groan.

"Sir?" Dennis spoke up. "I'd rather not."

Mr. West turned away from him, already searching for another person.

 _"Thank_ God _!"_ I shouted in my mind.

 _"Would you mind turning down the volume in here?"_ Mario said. _"You're gonna give me a headache."_

 _"Yeah, yeah."_

"Gabriel," Mr. West said, "would you like to take over instead?"

A grinning tenth grader furiously shook his head. He got up to join a tall, slim girl at the front, and the two of them each grabbed a bag.

Angelina peered inside her bag. She gave the class a massive grin and immediately went to work handing her pile out.

Gabriel also looked into his. His face went beet red.

"Teach'?" he said. "I think I might've gotten the girl's bag instead of the guy's."

Mr. West pushed up his glasses. I figured it must've been his way of facepalming because he held them there. He muttered something to himself.

"Guess I'll need _another_ volunteer," he said to the class. "Who would like to hand out the girl's Valentines in Gabriel's—"

"I'll do it!"

The loudness in his voice made many heads turn toward him. He cringed.

I cringed too. Dennis really _was_ involving himself in this process.

"You sure about this?" Mr. West said. "I seem to recall you'd "rather not"."

"I'll do it," he quickly replied. He slid off his seat. "If nobody else will, I'll—"

"Denny's got a girlfriend," some guy sang.

I rolled my eyes.

Dennis ignored that guy and went up to Gabriel. "Give me the bag, please," he said.

Gabriel, still red-faced, let him take it. He went to sit back down.

My eyes rolled over the various crude drawings etched into my desk. I debated over which one I could stare at the longest without feeling sick to my stomach.

Angelina finished handing out her pile. She returned to her seat somewhere behind me.

I listened to Dennis' footsteps. He went down each aisle, occasionally whispering to people.

I fixed my gaze on a picture of a hotdog in a bun when I heard him coming up directly from behind me.

 _"I know this is a bad time for me to say this,"_ Mario said, _"but I'm hungry."_

My breath caught in my throat. I tried not to visualize _anything_ relating to a hotdog while focusing on a tiny picture of a scantily-clad woman instead.

Mar made one of our arms twitch. Our gaze wandered next to a thankfully more innocent-looking picture of two rabbits… _Oh_. Never mind.

 _"This desk is_ disgusting _,"_ I said. _"How about I pull out a binder for us to read instead?"_

Too late. A white envelope slid over the etching of the rabbits. The hand previously holding it traveled to the edge of the desk, paused at the edge, and curled inwards.

"This is for you," he said, "Sam."

"Just. Leave," I hissed back, "Creep."

His hand curled fully into a fist. It sat on my desk.

"Do you want me to get Mr. West?" I said.

"I, um, think you're a wonderful person who just needs someone who cares about you," Dennis said, "and I'm glad Mario's there for you but I want to be there for you too, and I've been terrible at expressing myself because I've never felt this way toward someone until you came along, and you look cute in that red sweater—"

I shot out of my seat. "Shut up!" I yelled at him. "If you want to help me, leave me alone. I don't need you. I just want—"

"Friends," he said. "You want friends. You won't get any more of them if you're always hiding in your house."

 _"Excuse me?!"_

He flinched. "Sam, I'm speaking what I think is the truth," he said. "I want you to know that you have people who love you. Your dad, some of the teachers, maybe Mario—"

"He's a friend," I said. "Nothing more. Would you kindly buzz off before I—"

 _"Sam,"_ Mario whimpered, _"please."_

 _"I don't care. Let's see how he feels about being burnt to—"_

 _"No."_

I froze stiff. My eyes locked on Dennis'.

 _"You're not gonna hurt him,"_ Mario said. _"He wants to help you like I've been helping you. Please just let him try."_

 _"You know what? Fuck you too, Mario."_

 _"I'm sorry you feel that way, Sammy."_

My eyes brimmed with tears. I couldn't tell if it was because of him or me. What I could tell was that I wanted to be able to my thoughts without someone else in my head. I wanted for Mar to not be there, experiencing my emotions. I wanted some peace and quiet, preferably while around my mom back in Brooklyn.

…Wow, when did I ever sound so childish? Was I getting emotional and wanting my _mother?_ Why would I want _her_ when she chose to live with Robert instead of us?

 _"You want your mom?"_ he quietly asked.

I didn't answer him. I put a firm clamp down on my thoughts.

I felt something on my shoulder. I looked over it to find Mr. West and felt a tiny bit of breath collect in my lungs.

"Dennis," he said, turning his head, "I'd like you to wait in the hallway."

"Yes, sir," Dennis replied. He turned and walked out of the classroom. The wooden door shut behind him.

"Do you feel alright, dear?" Mr. West questioned. "Do you want to talk to someone?"

"No," I immediately answered.

"I'm always available if you need an ear," he said. "Or would you like to see somebody at the office?"

"Neither."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine."

"Go to the bathroom, dry your tears, and maybe even take a walk. I'll write you a pass if you need it later."

"...Thank you, Mr. West."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

I didn't follow my teacher's advice. Sometime later, I found myself curled up under a table in the commons. I let my tears and snot ruin the sleeve of the sweater shoved against my face.

There was nobody else here. Why would there be? Everyone was in their homerooms celebrating Valentine's Day, while I was… Sitting here, alone. I had tried to reach out to Mar so that I could talk to him. I think I might've scared him or, worse, angered him. Was he still listening to me think?

I shut my eyes. I let another sob escape from me.

 _'You want your mom?'_

I guess Mario figured it out. I guess I did, too. That was the reason, deep down, why I became the mess I am I today. I loved her, even if in the end she succumbed to Robert's abuse. The way my mom once parented me was why I was surprised when Mar treated me so nicely after we met. When crazy things happened, he made sure I was alright, just like she usually used to do.

 _"Mar?"_ I called in my mind.

If he heard me, he didn't say anything.

I switched to rubbing my face on my other sleeve. I pressed myself against the wall by the table.

"Sam?"

I glared in the general direction if the voice. I knew who it belonged to, and I wasn't about to respond to it.

"I've no idea how you're feeling right now, but I'm sitting here. I'd rather be here for you than let you suffer with only Mario for company."

I ground my teeth. What continued to drive this idiot? What made me so _special_ to him?

 _"He loves you, Sam."_

I perked up. _"Mar?"_

 _"Love is what's keeping him going,"_ Mario said. _"He has feelings for you."_

 _"The hell makes you say that?"_

 _"Haven't you heard a word he's said? He wants "to be your friend". He wants "to be there for you". He thinks your sweater is "cute"."_

 _"I don't share his feelings."_

 _"That doesn't change his opinion of you."_

 _"Even if he's been a stalker?"_

 _"Didn't he say he only followed you around because he wanted to know why you'd been acting weird?"_

 _"That_ justifies _the stalking?!"_

 _"Do you remember me telling him I'd do something if I caught him watching you again? Do you wanna know what would happen?"_

I didn't answer.

 _"First, I'd pin him down. If he tried to fight me, I'd wallop on him. If he promised to back off, I'd let him go. And if he didn't follow through on the second thing,_ something else _would happen."_

I blinked. _"Uh,_ wow. _"_

 _"Anything to keep you safe, Sammy."_

I felt myself relax a little. _"Thanks, Mar."_

 _"We've been a team, and we're gonna continue being a team as long as we're stuck like this. Got it?"_

 _"I'd rather not get involved with Dennis like_ that _with how we are right now."_

Mario laughed in my head. _"My point is, I'm not the only one here for you anymore. You may not have your mom, but you've got me and Dennis. So ho_ _w about we get out from under here?"_

 _"Not yet,"_ I said, lifting my sleeve back to my face. _"I'm not ready to face him_ or _the school day yet."_

 _"Whenever you're ready, then."_

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Dennis' eyes widened when I finally slid out from under the common room table. He lurched forward, only to stop himself and sit up straight.

"Are you alright?" he asked me.

I got up from the floor and dusted off my clothes. I didn't answer him.

"First period's gonna be over in ten minutes," he told me. "I asked Mr. West to write you passes to your first two classes if you needed some extra time, and I got your bag from the classroom."

"I don't even have a first period," I said, sitting down next to him. "I'm supposed to be free right now."

His eyebrows rose. "Um, cool," he said.

We sat in silence.

"Are you alright?" he asked me yet again.

"Mar and I talked," I said. "I'm fine."

"I hated seeing you in distress."

"No thanks to you."

He frowned. "...Well," he said, averting his gaze, "do you want anything?"

My body moved faster than my mind. I tugged his arms around my body and leaned into him.

"This," I told him, "is all I want."

Dennis's face lit up. He smiled back at me before his chin came to rest over my head. "That's good enough for me," he said.

We stayed like that until the bell rang, signaling the end of first period.


	27. Separation

_Mario_

 _"Are you done?"_ I asked.

 _"Yeah,"_ came Sam's reply.

I blinked. I found us in front of the girl's bathroom mirror.

Sam glared at the mirror. She was dressed in a short-sleeved shirt and a pair of shorts that went to her knees. _"Before you ask, yes. I have chicken limbs. Tell me something I don't know."_

I flexed our leg. _"I knew you were skinny, but_ this?"

 _"Why do you think I was surprised when Father started shopping for more food?"_ she said. _"I got used to a diet of vegetables and bread before that."_ She gave the mirror a disgusted look at the mention of the bread.

 _"I guess that's alright as long as you're not starving, Sammy."_

She turned from the mirror. _"_ _Mar_ , _I would kill for a year's supply of junk food,"_ she said. _"Let's get to class."_

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Sam's gym teacher dropped two big bags on the floor. "Today, we'll be doing…" he shouted over the noise. "Basketball!"

Sam rested her arms over her kneecaps. _"That's boring."_

 _"Basketball?"_ I repeated.

 _"Do you need me to explain to you what that is—"_

 _"No!"_ I shouted back. _"I know what it is. I'm just concerned. It's a sport that involves jumping. It's just, you're short for a girl—"_

 _"You're short for a_ man _."_

I ignored her. _"What if when you jump to throw the ball in the hoop, you get that whole fire-trailing-your-feet-thing again?"_

Sam rolled her eyes upwards. _"You're right. I'm not about to hit myself on the metal beams on the ceiling or expose_ this _."_ She held her hand out and lit a tiny flame in it.

"This situation's getting weirder by the minute."

I looked up.

Dennis came up racing up the steps of the bleachers. He gave us a baffled look.

Sam shook the fire from her palm.

He continued to stare.

"Don't tell anyone," Sam hissed. "I swear to God..."

He hesitated. He settled down next to Sam. "So, um, how did your day go?" he asked.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," she said, rolling her eyes away from him. _"Mar, I really hope I did the right thing by letting him into my life."_

 _"You're okay,"_ I told her. _"Maybe you should ask him how_ his _day was?"_

Sam looked back to Dennis. She swallowed. _"I… Guess."_ She gripped her kneecaps tighter. Then she said, "How was your's?"

He looked up from the phone he held. "Your's what?" he asked.

"Your day? Isn't that how this works? You ask me how I'm doing, then I ask you how you're doing."

"Oh," he said. "I'm fine. Thanks for asking." He looked over at the entrance to the boy's locker room. "I'm actually scared of Rick seeing us. I haven't told him or Theo about what happened yet."

Sam crossed her arms. "What's their deal?" she said. "Why do they hate me?"

"They always assumed that _I_ hated you rather than… You know…"

"If you're still hoping for some sort of romantic relationship with me, feel free to leave."

He tore his gaze from ours. "...Of course," he mumbled.

"You better understand," Sam grumbled under her breath.

"What do you plan to do after school?"

"I guess I'll go home, do homework with Mario and my dad watching over my shoulder..."

I felt a jolt of pain come from our forehead. I gasped. I leaned forward, grabbing at our head.

Whatever Sam had been saying, she paused to say to me, _"Mar?_ _Is something wrong?"_

 _"Headache,"_ I said. _"Do you feel it?"_

 _"No,_ " she admitted.

"Sam?" Dennis spoke up.

She sorta lifted our head. "I'm fine," she muttered. "But Mario is having a problem."

His eyebrows rose. "'A problem'?" he said.

"It's a headache," she explained. "He's only feeling the pain on his end, but he has as much control over my body as I do. I won't be able to do anything if he's like this…"

Fortunately for her, my world chose that moment to go black.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Somebody shook me. "Get _up!"_ they shouted.

"Five more minutes," I mumbled.

 _"Please!"_ they yelled. "You've _been unconscious for over an hour. Get up!"_

I groaned.

 _"Mar!"_

I slowly opened my eyes to see a blurry figure hovering over me. What just happened...?

 _"Finally,"_ I heard Sam say while sighing. _"You passed out and literally materialized from my head. I tried to wake you up, but the gym teachers gave me detention after winter break because I didn't want to leave you."_ She made a disgusted face. _"But screw them. I'm glad you're alright. I couldn't stop worrying."_

I pulled my arm in front of my face. I smiled when I recognized the bigger limb waving in front of my face.

 _"We also missed the bus,"_ she said. _"Dennis has a car, so we don't have to walk all the way home."_

I sat up. I cringed when I felt the intense pressure from earlier return. This... Couldn't be how Sam felt when we first met, right? Of course, I never experienced the pain myself until now, but...

My vision cleared enough that I could make out Sam's relieved smile. She made a gesture for me to get up.

I did. The moment I stood straight, the world blurred again. I leaned forward.

A pair of hands grabbed my shoulders. They pushed me back up.

 _"Don't worry,"_ she said. _"I've got you."_

"Thanks," I said.

Sam, still wearing her gym clothes, moved so that she stood at my side. She tugged me closer to her.

Dennis stood at the bottom of the bleachers. "Is he..." He stopped. He made a vague gesture at me.

"...Right, you can't see him," Sam said. "Mario's fine, although he's suffering from a side effect that _I_ used to get after his possessions of me." She glanced down at me. "Weird, now that I think about it."

I stared back at her, unsure of what to say.

"Let's get back to your place," Dennis said. "It'll get dark soon. I don't want the janitor finding us in here."

 _"I hope he knows how to drive,"_ she thought.

We slowly, but surely, left the school. I hung close to Sam, watching Havenland High's hallways go by. Until now, I never noticed that the walls, while bright yellow, had many places where they were chipped. I'd never seen anybody hang stuff on them too. Those are strange details, I know, but I couldn't focus on anything else.

"I'm taking a nap when we get back," I told Sam when we walked outta the school.

She patted my shoulder. "You do that," she said.

* * *

 _Sam_

I'll admit it. Dennis knew how to drive. He knew how to drive _well._ I couldn't find a thing to complain about between him always leaving his hands on the wheel and his car smelling like fresh maple. Still, I got out of the car the moment he pulled into the driveway of his house. I helped Mario get out from the backseat.

"I would have been ticketed if those officers could see him," Dennis groused. "How tall is he again?"

"A foot under me?" I guessed. "He's not as tall as Nintendo likes to say he is."

"Hey, at least I had _this_ ," Mario said, brandishing the pillow he usually sat on at the dining table.

"That's not a proper kid's seat, Mar," I said.

"I'll have you know that I'm twenty-four. I shouldn't need this."

"Good to know, big guy."

He huffed.

"You're still talking to him, right?" Dennis said. "Neither of us is crazy?"

"Yes," I simply answered.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Mario snored the moment he collapsed on to my bed. He hugged my pillow like a stuffed animal.

I set what remained of his hot chocolate on the table by him and fell into the chair by my desk.

Some little part of me _still_ couldn't believe who that person in my bed was even after all this time. If the me from the beginning of February saw Mario asleep there she would have gotten angry, kicked him off, and not given a crap about his feelings.

 _Disgusting._

"Sam?" Dennis whispered. He came into the room.

"You found it?" I whispered back.

He took a small white container from his pockets. He walked over to give it to me.

"I hope the aspirin works," I said, opening it. "You didn't forget the water, did you?"

He dropped a plastic water bottle on my desk.

I gritted my teeth at the sight of the bottle's label, which read "Huntersfield Spring". "Good enough," I forced myself to say. I got a post-it from my desk, writing on it:

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

 _Mario,_

 _If you're still woozy, take two tablets before drinking the water. Dennis and I will be downstairs if you need anything else._

 _Feel better soon,_

 _Sam_

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

I set the container of tablets and the water on the little table by my bed. I stuck the post-it on the water bottle.

"So, um…" Dennis paused, eyeing Mario's sleeping form. "Now what?"

I couldn't help the little smirk that dawned on my face. "How do you feel about playing some _Mario Kart 8_?" I said.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

I crushed Dennis. No matter who he played as I destroyed them with Mario. It got to the point where he simply shook his head, dropped his controller, and picked up his bookbag.

"Forget this," he grumbled, "I'd have more fun playing _Animal Crossing_."

" _New Leaf_?" I said.

He nodded.

"How far are you into the game?" I wondered aloud.

"I caught all the fish and bugs," he said.

"I fully upgraded all of my profile's houses," I countered.

"I have all of the medals."

"I have all of the awards from the tourneys."

"I have Marshall."

"I have both Whitney and Wolfgang."

"I have amiibo compatible with the game."

"God damn it."

Dennis grinned. He pulled out a black 3DSXL and flipped it open. "Do you want to see Wolf Link?" he inquired. "I got him yesterday."

"...I'll think about it."

A gray-and-black-striped tabby cat dashed into the room. She carried a mouse toy in her little mouth.

"Hey," I called over at her, "you caused me trouble today. You know that?"

"I don't think she can understand you," Dennis said.

Tabitha dropped the mouse and wandered over to us. She jumped up on the couch next to me.

I gave her a little pat on the head. While I did love my cat...

"Mar and I tripped over her this morning," I said, shaking my head at her. "It was the second or third time this month."

He smiled back at me, shaking his head. "I wish I could get a cat," he said, reaching out to pet her. "My mom's allergic."

"That's unfortunate. Cats are way better than dogs."

"I agree."

Tabitha leaned into Dennis' touch. She purred when he rubbed her neck.

"Well, what's this?" a new voice cut in.

I whipped around.

Standing at the archway of the living was Father, already garbed in his pajamas. He smiled at us.

"Mr. Brown," Dennis said.

"You can call me Stephen," he told him.

"Stephen," Dennis corrected himself. "Got it."

"Sammy," he asked, "could I see you for a second?"

I frowned at Dennis.

He frowned back at me.

I stood up. "Sure..." I answered, if hesitantly.

Father hid behind the archway.

I sighed. "Want to bet a dollar that I'm in trouble?"

"I have no money," Dennis replied.

"How about we bet on your 3DSXL?"

He clutched his system protectively to his chest. " _No,"_ he growled.

"Okay," I said, turning around. "See you later."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Could you tell me what this is?" Father said. He held out a round object for me to take.

I held it up in the hallway's light so that I could admire its bright red color. "It's a Mario hat," I told him.

"Do you know who gave this to you?"

"If it were Dennis, I think he would've mentioned it," I said. "I found it on our doorstep."

"Do you know about the message that came with it?"

"Are we playing Twenty Questions?" I shot back, maybe a bit more forcefully than I intended. "Are _you_ the one who left me the hat?"

He shook his head. "Flip it over," he said.

So I did. I studied the hat's underside. "There's supposed to be a secret message in here? I don't see it—"

No. I definitely saw it. The message he mentioned had been knit into the center of the hat's insides. In small, golden letters, it read:

 _WE KNOW_


	28. Twists and Turns

_Sam_

 _'WE KNOW.'_

 _What_ did they know _?_ My connection with Mario? That Mario was here? _Something?_

I must have gone cross-eyed from staring at the damn hat for so long. I threw myself against the couch cushions.

 _"'We know?'"_ Dennis read from the hat. "Sam, why's the Dark Brotherhood contacting you?"

I massaged my temples. "Okay, one, what the hell is the Dark Brotherhood?" I said. "Two, I _don't know why."_

"Sammy?" Father called into the room. "Are you sure you don't want me to call the police?"

"Maybe not," I said, also shaking my head. "Then again…"

He frowned.

"Do whatever you want," I said. "I need time to think about this."

Father walked away. I knew who to blame if a detective or likewise showed up at our house later.

"Is there anything I can do?" Dennis asked.

"Leave," I said.

He folded his hands in his lap and leaned forward.

"Get out, Dennis. _Please."_

"Fine," he said, getting up. He grabbed his bookbag along the way. "Maybe I could drop by again tomorrow? I don't think we'll have school."

"Don't push it," I said. "I've been through enough already."

"Sure," he said, throwing his bag over his shoulders. "I had a great time hanging out with you, by the way. Happy Valentine's Day."

"Bye," I answered.

He hurriedly left the house. I watched him cross the street to where he lived.

I stood up. It was time to check on Mario.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

I walked back into my bedroom.

Mario still laid in my bed. He opened one of his blue eyes.

"I swallowed the pills," he said, frowning. "I don't think they helped."

"You'll get better," I said, settling down on the edge of my bed.

He chuckled. "Ye-yeah." He cringed when he sat up.

I bit my lip. "Lay back down. Don't stress yourself."

He wordlessly followed my advice.

"Do you remember how we found that new hat this morning?" I said.

Mario turned over on his side and let out a yawn. "I'm gonna take another nap."

I let a sigh loose. Perhaps he wasn't in his right state of mind, and I would have to wait before we properly tackled our newest problem.

Resigned, I reached down for the blanket and tossed it back over his shoulders.

"Well, I'll let you have the bed tonight," I said. "You need it more than I do."

A sense of curiosity hit me. I put Mario's original hat in my lap.

Mario's eye flew open. Oh, so _now_ he was paying attention?

"What are you doing?" he asked, his tone growing defensive.

"Checking your hat," I said, flipping it over.

He sat up again. "I'm really outta it," he said. "Repeat that for me?"

I ended up explaining all that had happened shortly after he went to sleep. When I finished—

"It also came with a message," I said.

Mario rubbed at his chin. "Let me see the new hat," he said.

I gave it over to him. He placed it upside down in his lap.

"That's worrying," he said. _"We know?"_

His fingers rubbed at the letters inside of the hat. A flash of bright light emitted from the space he touched.

I reflexively shut my eyes.

Mario squeaked out in surprise.

The light died down. I opened my eyes again.

A figure stood at the hat's edge. They covered their face with a black hood. Similarly-colored mists rolled off their body.

Mario poked at it. The figure didn't flinch. In fact, his finger cut through the projection.

"It reminds me of the shadowy beasts I fought in Toad Town," he said.

 _"Child."_

We watched the projection.

"I'm... Sorry?" I said, bending forward. "I'm actually eighteen, and..."

Mario cocked his eyebrows.

 _"Fine, I'll shut up,"_ I told him.

 _"I am Morganthia,"_ the projection said. _"My people come from Crumbleden. It is nowadays referred to by the denizens of my world as the Ruined Kingdom."_

"Hold on a sec," Mario said. "That place? With the dragon?"

"Wait, what dragon?" I said. "Your world has dragons?"

"I saw one during my last adventure to save Peach—"

 _"Our civilization disappeared a long time ago,"_ Morganthia said, speaking over him. "W _e were sealed away by a black beast of immense power, the Ruined Dragon. That was until a special being, a star child, came along and fought him in combat."_

I watched Mar. "You mean you saw a dragon in the events of _Super Mario Odyssey?_ God, I need to buy—"

He shook his head at me and concentrated harder on the hologram.

I put a fist to my chin. "Fine. Holographic lady first, talk later."

 _"The dragon's defeat is what reawakened my people from a centuries-long sleep."_ Morganthia shut her eyes. _"I openly admit that he had good reason to put us away, given the unfortunate events that unfolded after the star child returned home from his latest adventure."_

She glanced up. Her gray face, excluding the white fangs in her mouth, struck a chord in me. It seemed like it belonged to another woman I might have known.

 _"For the past five years, the Mushroom Kingdom has been held by Khione, who used to be a princess of Crumbleden. Her magic has transformed…"_

 _"What?!"_ Mario shouted over her speech.

My eyes widened at his change in volume.

"I couldn't have been gone for _five entire years?!"_ he said. "What's happened to the princess? Her kingdom? My own _family?!"_ He hung his head.

I hesitated. I reached over to pat his shoulder.

He eyed me.

 _"When Khione was freed from the Ruined Dragon's spell, s_ _he attacked the Mushroom Kingdom for a laugh. I expected her to fail._

 _"I'm not sure if the stars favored her over Mario or if she simply got lucky. The Mushroom Kingdom became a snowy wasteland under her rule. And unless seven of the star children are gathered, she may hold her new territory for ages to come._

 _"That is where you come in."_

I froze. _Me?_

 _"The stars did not just grace my planet with their presence. There are a few other worlds that they watch over, including yours."_ Morganthia smiled at me. _"As it turns out, you are one of_ them.

 _"You're a star child."_

"I'm a what?" I said, instantly feeling stupid. I should know what a star child is. One of them sat here with me!

 _"You are like the legendary Mario,"_ Morganthia said, " _if a bit late in developing your own powers._

 _"While I understand that this may be a lot to take in, this message doubles as a test of a spell to transport things, maybe even beings, across worlds. I expect us to personally meet_ very _soon._

 _"Be prepared for that inevitability."_

The hologram then folded like paper into the new hat.

I hesitantly reached down to pick it up. "Mar?" I said. "What exactly was that?"

"I've got a bad feeling about this," he answered. "Or maybe that's my headache." He laid back down.

I leaned on a bedpost. The world blurred around me. This woman, Morganthia, pretty much dumped a whole lot of exposition on me, and she obviously meant it for me alone. Everyone back in the Mushroom Kingdom suspected Mar to be long gone.

"Five years," Mario mumbled. "The Mushroom Kingdom…"

"And I'm a star child," I said. "And there's a _dragon_."

I couldn't get deep into my thoughts. One could imagine my surprise when Mario tossed his blanket off of him and flung his feet over the edge of the bed.

"Sam!" he shouted at me. "I'm not staying in bed. We gotta get home."

"I thought you weren't feeling well," I said.

"I don't care! Help me outta here. We're gonna find us a darn pipe _right now_ — _Oof!"_

A silence pervaded the room when Mario fell over. He sat up on his knees.

I bent over to help him stand up.

My bedroom door opened. I spun around.

"Father?" I called out to the man standing at the top of the steps.

"Hey, Sammy," he said. "Do you want to order a pizza tonight?"

I sat upright.

Mario peeked out from behind the bed.

My eyes drifted down to him. "Uh... Sure?" I said, though inside I was pretty much thinking, _God damn it get out of my bedroom dad this isn't a good time..._

"Alright," Father said, nodding, "that settles it."

When he turned and left, I helped Mario up.

"Welp," I grunted, "that came out of nowhere."

Mario leaned against the bed. "I don't wanna be here anymore," he moaned, pulling himself back on the mattress.

"Please," I said, "stay in bed. You need to rest."

He let out a quiet, bitter laugh. "I remember when you were like this," he said, "and all you worried about was getting to school."

I smiled, remembering that day he found me on the floor. It already felt like it happened a long time ago.

"Fine, Sam," Mario said, laying back down in bed, "go get some pizza. I'll wait for you here."

"I'll bring you a slice," I said, getting up. "Okay?"

He smiled back at me as I made my way out of the room. "Could you make me a cup of hot cocoa while you're at it? Please?"

I nodded because, hey, why not? I could make a cup for me too.

"Sure, Mar," I said. "See you in a bit."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

I bent over a cup of hot cocoa, furiously mixing the ingredients together over the sink. One hand held the cup's handle. The other lit a fire at its bottom.

Our pizza had come about ten minutes before. Father simply smiled after paying the delivery man and left on the kitchen table, babbling about showers and some other stuff.

 _"How about I put on a movie after I'm done?"_ he said to me. _"Maybe we could have some father-daughter bonding?"_

I'll admit, I found the idea abhorrent. As I stood there making a drink for Mar though, I remembered how I sat in the sewers blubbering of how Father saved me from Robert's abuse, and how we lost touch since then despite living in the same house. So I ultimately decided to make it up to him. Valentine's Day may be a stupid, corporate holiday, but he deserved _something_ from his ungrateful daughter.

My drink looked mixed enough. I lightly set it down. "Now to work on Mar's..."

The last time Mar drank one of my hot chocolates, he _loved_ it. I intended to replicate the same recipe; all I needed to add to the next cup was some good, old cinnamon.

I opened one of the cabinets. If I remembered right, I placed the cinnamon back on the lowest shelf. So I started my search for it there.

At least I _would have_ looked for it if Father hadn't _screamed_ like a literal _little girl_.

"Probably a centipede," I sighed, closing the shutter.

Father hated those things as much as I did. They always managed to sneak into the tub from the pipes. I wouldn't put it past him to flee from the bathroom with only a towel to his name if he found one in there.

That said, maybe I should check on him. Who knew if it were even a centipede? Maybe it could be a daddy long legs, or some other bug, or even the bar of soap slipping from its holder, or…

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Father?" I called into the bathroom. "What the hell is going on in there?" I reached down and twisted the doorknob. I peeked inside.

I swear to God if _was_ a centipede...

The red pupils of an overgrown lizard stared back at me.

I stopped in my tracks. That _thing_ was not a centipede. Not in the very slightest.

The lizard's eyes narrowed.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…" I said, taking a step back, "I think I'll leave you guys alone."

I slammed the door shut. My heart raced a thousand miles a second. Air uncontrollably pumped in and out of my lungs.

Dear _God_ , no. _He_ , of all things, showed up _here_? The archnemesis of Super Mario? Was I dreaming? Would he hurt Father? Would he hurt _me_? What was I supposed to do? Mario was in no condition to deal with him, and I... Well, I have _never_ physically fought anything in my life!

The bathroom door reopened. The giant koopa glanced down the hallway, and right at me.

"Hey, kid?" Bowser said. "We gotta talk."


	29. Fade

_Sam_

"Talk?" I said. "A big-ass koopa shows up in my bathroom and all he wants is to "talk" to me?"

Bowser squeezed out of the bathroom. His stomps shook the floor, which did nothing to calm my equally-shaken nerves. His massive form filled the entire hallway.

I took another step back.

One of his red eyebrows rose. "You know me?" he asked in a deep, growly voice.

"Yes," I said, "you're King Bowser of the Darklands. And I'm," I turned on my heel, "getting the _hell_ out of here!"

I ran down the hall back to the front entrance. _"Mar! Get up! There's an emergency; an old "friend" of yours showed up and oh fuck is that who I think it is—"_

I bowled straight into a small creature in a blue robe. We fell over each other, with it crying out.

When I slammed against the wooden floorboards, Kamek didn't fall with me. He rematerialized a few steps away and pointed his scepter at my head.

"Freeze," he hissed, pushing up his glasses.

Waves of warm energy gathered at my hands. I prepared to form them into fireballs.

Kamek's scepter slapped down on my fingers. "No, you don't."

I reflexively pulled my hands back. The energy previously gathering there faded to nothing.

Bowser squeezed through the narrow hallway. The white spikes on his shell as well as the smaller points on the black bands he wore gleamed in the light. If he _grazed_ me, I could be impaled by them.

I flipped over to face him.

"We aren't going to hurt you," Bowser said.

"I'm supposed to trust the guy who kidnaps Princess Peach all the time?" I shot back. _"Please."_

He got the most curious look on his face. "How much do you know of my world?"

"Enough to know I'm not having any of this shit. Now if you excuse me, I—"

"Get up," Kamek said, pointing his weapon at my face.

I didn't move.

 _"Get up!"_ he said

"What happens if I don't?" I said.

He waved the scepter. "This," he said, releasing the spell from within it.

I rolled to the side. A ball of green hit the floor inches from my shoulder. It faded into small mists.

"You missed," I snorted, smirking. My fire raced up to my palm. I reached backward, intending to fling it at him.

Bowser roared. He flew at me with tremendous speed. The next thing I knew, he had me dangling from his claws by the back of my shirt.

 _"As I was saying,_ " he growled, "we gotta talk."

I gulped.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

 _"Mar,"_ I called out, _"I'm begging you. Help me!"_

A moment passed. I got no sort of response from him, not even a creak of the floor above.

Father's arm draped over my shoulders. If I wasn't frightened, I would have told him to knock it off. Though I could admit it felt nice.

Flashes of fire trickled down my skin. I forced the urge to completely explode into flames down. I didn't want to burn him, nor did I want to incur Bowser's wrath.

"Sammy, huh?" Bowser turned to Father. "And you are?"

"Stephen, Your, um, Majesty. I'm her dad."

"Does she have a mother?"

Father's expression tightened. "She's not involved in our lives," he said.

I nodded to confirm this.

"So it's just you that we have to worry about," Bowser said.

"'Worry about'?" Father repeated.

The koopa king folded his arms. "Well, I _am_ here to escort her to my world."

He lurched forward _. "What?"_

"Your daughter is a "star child". She possesses great power that, with the right training, could save the Mushroom Kingdom. That's why I'm here. I'm taking the girl under my wing."

"As opposed to kidnapping me?" I squeaked out.

"I'm not kidnapping anybody," Bowser said. "I lost my passion for it when…" He stopped.

"Your archnemesis died?" I said. After a moment's hesitation, I added on, "The message I got implied he's, um, gone."

A silence hung over the room.

"Yes," Bowser finally said. He focused on Father. "An acquaintance of mine sent her a message ahead of my arrival. Surely your daughter mentioned it to you, Stephen."

He was met by another _"What?"_ Except Father directed it at me this time.

I withdrew from his embrace.

"I assure you that Sammy won't be harmed," Bowser told him, "as long as she cooperates with us."

 _"Absolutely not!"_ Father cried. "Maybe she's a "star child" like you told me, but she has to leave me?" He made a vague gesture at me. "She has her whole future ahead of her, and you need _her_ to save a kingdom?"

"Sir—"

Kamek got cut off by Father. "I-if you don't go back the way you came from _right now_ ," he stuttered out, "I'm calling for a SWAT team."

"What will those guys do?" Bowser said, shrugging. "Mortally wound me with their guns? I've suffered much worse than that."

"You have no idea," I replied, shaking my head.

"We're not even going to let that happen!" Kamek shouted. "King Bowser is here for the girl. He _will_ get his way."

"I'm not letting you have her!" Father said, glaring at Bowser. "Don't you have a son? What would you think if someone stole him away and you had no say in it?"

Bowser's pupils darted down at him. He narrowed his eyes.

"My lord?" Kamek said.

"Leave the pipe open until I've returned," Bowser ordered.

He frowned.

"I want to be left alone with this man. He's the one I need to have a real chat with."

"Are you sure? You might be putting yourself in danger. We don't know if these particular folks possess their own guns."

 _"As if,"_ I muttered.

"I'll be fine," Bowser told Kamek. "I need you to continue the search for Junior. _Now."_

"My Lord—"

"Listen to me or _else!"_ he roared.

Kamek turned away. "Yes, um, sir!" he cried. He ran out of the room and out of sight.

Bowser looked to me next. "Now, uh, Sammy?" he said, his voice strangely calmer. "Could you leave, uh, please?"

"Ye-yes," Father agreed, shrinking against the couch, "you should go."

"You'll be fine," I mouthed to him. _Hopefully._

I felt thankful that Bowser gave me the chance to escape. I went straight for the kitchen to grab Mario's cocoa and pizza, which, to my amazement, were still piping hot. My heart wouldn't quit pounding while I carried them upstairs. I should have known better than to think I would have a "normal" Valentine's Day.

"He needs to know," I said to myself, " _now._ "

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Mar?" I called softly into the room. "Are you awake?"

I opened the door and quickly grabbed the hot cocoa precariously balancing on the plate I carried. I felt lucky that it didn't slip off.

Mario didn't answer me. He had my blankets wrapped around his small body.

I set his stuff down on the table by him. "Mar?" I said, raising my voice a little higher.

He didn't move a muscle. His mustache, which normally seemed to defy the laws of gravity, drooped.

I reached out to put a hand on him. I hesitated at the last moment. Should I honestly be touching him?

 _Are you stupid?_ I berated myself.

Dead or not, my friend needed to be checked on. I placed my hand on his back. I waited.

He laid completely still. The corner of his mouth curved upward like he was giving me the tiniest of smiles.

I shook him. "Mario? Bowser showed up. You need to get out of bed. I don't know what he'll do to me if he has his way."

Mario opened his eyes. He considered me for one, long moment. "Sam?" he finally asked. "Wasn't this how you felt when you got sick?"

I sat down next to him.

"Did you ever feel weak all over? That you didn't think you could go on? That you felt like you're gonna lose consciousness any minute. That you'll never wake up… Ever again?"

I slid right next to him. "What are you saying?"

"I don't think," he said, "that I'm gonna live much longer."

"You're already dead," I said. "Didn't you once tell me you thought it wasn't possible to die _twice?"_

"I can barely move," Mario said. His fist curled up halfway. It trembled wildly, so he let it go loose. "I can... I can barely breathe."

"You were fine when I left you! You can't be this sick."

"I'm afraid I am," he chuckled, his voice growing hoarse.

"Mar, is this a joke?"

* * *

 _Mario_

The last thing I knew, Sam walked out to get us dinner. Then I woke up feeling strange. I couldn't hold a breath in. I felt like I was floating though I knew I laid in her bed. I couldn't feel the mattress under me.

"Mar, is this a joke?" Sam said.

I shook my head. "If something happens to me, you gotta…" I had to stop and take another breath in. "You gotta stay strong, alright?"

"No," she said, "shut up. You can't be dying." Her eyes brimmed with tears. She blinked a bunch to hold them back. "All I did was leave the damn room. What the _fuck_ happened while I was gone?"

I stared at the white ceiling.

Sammy's been through so much. It wouldn't be good for her if I kicked the bucket. And me... How did I feel about facing death again?

The last time I died stuck in my mind. My stomach wound ached in sympathy as I thought of the spear running me through. I heard Khione's laughter and the clicks on Peach's heels. The difference was, that all seemed more distant. It wasn't important compared to what I faced now. What did I face, even? Total darkness, like when I first woke up? Cessation of existence? Where would I go if I died a ghost?

Sam sat me up. "You're a lot _lighter_ ," she gasped. She dropped me on a surface as soft as the bed. The back of her hand tapped my forehead. "And you feel as cold as ice!" She wrapped both of her arms around me. "Okay, well, don't worry. I'm going to warm you up."

Her hands and arms burst into flames. Her concentration moved to them.

"You'll burn me," I said.

"No. You'll be fine. _I promise."_

I shut my eyes and laid my head on her shoulder. "Go ahead," I sighed, "do it."

* * *

"He ran off one day," Bowser said. "Junior's only twelve! He can't be out there on his own."

"I'm sorry," Stephen mumbled, "I had no idea."

In all of his years, Stephen never imagined he would ever talk to an extraterrestrial. Nor did he imagine he would be comforting the poor guy over his missing son.

"That's kind of how I felt when you said you were taking Sammy away. She's my only daughter. She's the result of my love for a beautiful woman." He watched the floor. "Her mother and I are both in our forties now. I bet she's as lovely as ever."

"I see," Bowser said, studying the claws in his lap.

"Star child or not, I can't bear the thought of letting Sammy leave for your world. I want her to be safe."

"I could promise you that she'll be taken care of. I could have the Koopalings watch over her shoulder. They're great warriors when they put their minds to it, so they could protect her, and Wendy would love having another girl around."

Stephen twiddled his thumbs. He wished deep down he didn't have to let his daughter go. It felt like he had no choice. If he refused more vehemently, would Bowser think to beat him to a pulp? What would happen to his daughter then? "I… Suppose."

"You gotta let me take her. The Mushroom Kingdom needs seven star children to defeat the evil witch who took it over. Sammy needs to fill in for Mario."

"And once you're done?"

"I'll bring her home."

"What if she gets hurt?" Stephen said, leaning in towards him. "What if she's _killed?"_

Bowser shook his head. "Do you know what a one-up is?" he asked. "It won't be easy to kill her off if we stuff her with a bunch of those things. She'll be okay."

"I still don't know how to properly react to this. You being you, I thought you'd grab my daughter and run."

"Not anymore. I lost that pleasure when Mario died. I had _fun_ kidnapping Peach. Khione took that away from me!" He made a face at the end of his little speech. He locked eyes with the man next to him.

Stephen was never prepared for the question that came next.

"...Could I ask you a question?" Bowser said. "How do you and your kid know who I am?"

* * *

 _Sam_

Mario remained cold to my flaming touch. I could barely make his shape out through the wet in my eyes.

"Mar, please…" I said. "I don't want to lose you. Not after everything that's happened. Not after I finally felt like I made a friend."

"You have Dennis," Mar said. He sounded as limp as he felt in my arms.

The orange flames around me grew hotter. They were like clouds in a tornado rapidly spinning around us. "He doesn't count!" I shouted. "You helped me be happy again after so long and I'm _not. Going. To lose. That!"_

All of my focus went into keeping the fire alive. I held Mar as close to my chest as I could. I didn't care if it burnt us both to crisps. He needed to live. I wanted him to live. I never even told him that...

"Mar," I said. "Bowser showed up. He's trying to take me to your world. He wants me to help him defeat Khione."

"So go with him."

I wiped the tears from my eyes. "Huh?"

Mario smiled. He reached up and cupped my cheek with his massive hand.

I reached up to touch it.

"I don't know what's gonna happen to me," he said. "But stay strong for our sakes."

His eyes were watery too. I felt his tears fall from his face and on to me. I accomplished make him warm, in one way. Still—

"No!" I said. "You can't die, you won't, I won't…"

His hand slipped off my cheek. He took a deep breath in.

"Sammy," he said, "whatever happens next, you'll be okay. You don't need me."

"Yes, I do!" I cried. "I do need you. The Mushroom Kingdom needs you. You want to go home. I _want_ to bring you home."

"Go there with Bowser," he said. "Make everything right."

Memories flashed through my head. I couldn't stop them. I remembered that day Mario's hat showed up. I was really pissed off then. It would never leave me alone. Then came the first time we properly spoke to each other, with me hunching over the toilet. That had been quite the way to introduce myself to him. And I remembered us cooking meals for each other and me warming up to him. The fires, the times I felt sick, the fact we were forced to work together because of our mind link…

All of it felt like it was going to waste. I might as well not have gotten as close to him as I had.

"Don't think like that," Mario said. "I still see you as a friend, no matter what."

Hah… Even when he was dying, he was reading my mind.

"Take care of yourself," he said. His eyes left mine and he stared at the ceiling. "I'm gonna sleep now. But could you... Could you let Weegee and Peach know I'm okay?"

"No!" I whimpered. _"No!"_

Mario's physical form broke apart before my eyes. He dissolved into nothing but white particles.

I jumped forward to grab at them. That probably sounds stupid, but what else could I do?

The rising particles suddenly veered off course. They launched towards me.

I flinched. They hit me right through my chest. I felt nothing from the impact.

But then... I heard a voice. _His_ voice.

 _"And thanks,"_ he said, _"f_ _or being a friend."_

"Mario?" I called out.

Nothing else came from that. He simply went dead silent, leaving me to watch the cold, empty air alone.

* * *

 **…** ** _God._**

 **You have** ** _no_ ****idea how long I've been waiting to write this chapter. Sam and Mario's friendship is the cornerstone of this fic. It pains me to take that away from them. Neither of them deserved what happened to them, but life, unfortunately, can be that way. Sometimes, like Sam when she was a child, you're stuck in a terrible situation no matter how much you curse out other people and hope they get what they deserve… Which then never seems to come to pass.**

 **Did it hurt anyone to read this as it hurt me to write it? I'd like to hear people's thoughts, either in this chapter or on the fic in general. I'd appreciate any feedback.**

 **Until next time, when I begin to write the final arc of this fic,**

 **GitS**


	30. Beginning of the End

My orange flames wrapped around me like a blanket. They felt warm and comforting on my skin. I didn't want to be comforted, though. I felt like crying until my tears ran dry.

Mario left me. Only Dennis and I knew that he came back for a short time, and nobody else would probably ever learn of it unless, I suppose, spoke up. Who would believe me, though? He wasn't here to make himself known in some way. He left me completely and utterly alone.

Two red hats laid on the little table by my bed. I studied them for a long moment. One came with Morganthia's message. The other would perfectly fit Mario's head.

I grabbed Mar's original hat from the table and hugged it. He took everything except for it when he disappeared. It was my one reminder of him and the only proof I had that he lived again for a short time. Who would believe me _even when_ I possessed it, though?

Mario told me to go to the Darklands with Bowser. He didn't say to _stick_ with Bowser, right? He did, after all, mention Luigi and Peach. What if _they_ didn't want to work with the king of koopas? Wouldn't it be better for me to find them than stay in the Darklands?

I wiped my face on my sweater's sleeve. The flames around me raged on.

 _Of course._ Once I found Luigi and Peach, we could work together to overthrow Khione. We didn't need Bowser in our business.

The "M" on Mar's hat seemed to glow in my firelight. Mar deserved better than the fate he got. He had a lot going for him before he fell to Khione. Tons of people in the Mushroom Kingdom loved him for all he did to protect them from threats like Bowser. Tons of people here in my world loved him being a jovial guy. Heck, the first girl he ever loved wrote a _song_ about him.

My mind took another turn. It could have been my grief talking. But what would happen if I _didn't_ want to save the Mushroom Kingdom? As much as younger me fantasized about going on adventures and slaying dragons and whatnot, I couldn't truly see me playing the role of a hero. Mario had been one. The Mushroom Kingdom deserved him as their savior, not me. I was a small fish compared to him and his long list of achievements and adventures.

So what if… _What if I brought the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom back to the dead?_

I sat up. _No._ It couldn't be that simple. Mario died along time ago. He then somehow came back for a short time and died _again._ So what if I somehow managed to get far along with this plan? Would he come back messed-up in some way? I've seen it happen too often to people in fictional media to not be aware of it. He could go loony or become a zombie or _worse._

I smacked myself across the face to stop the onset of negative thoughts. I couldn't afford to think like that when I didn't know the answer.

If I sought my own path, I would be ignoring, and possibly angering, Bowser. Yet I didn't care. Mario was more important to me than the Mushroom Kingdom and Khione. My best friend _needed_ to be saved.

So forget the king of the Darklands. Forget saving the goddamn kingdom. Nobody, _nobody_ would stop me from searching for a way to get him back.

The phantom flames around me died down. I lifted my bookbag up from the floor, dumped all of my school supplies on my bed, and jogged over to my bedroom closet.

I shoved both Mar's hat and a bunch of clothes into my bag with not a care in the world as to what they were. My winter coat ended up tied around my waist. I stopped putting stuff into my bag when the clothes spilled out of the largest pocket.

I tore a sheet of paper from a notebook before picking up a pen and wrote as fast I could on the page:

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

 _Dad,_

 _I've gone ahead of Bowser to his world. However, I won't be working with him. I have my own objectives. I refuse to help him until I've_ tried _, at the very least, to complete them._

 _Please don't worry about me. I'll be okay. Remember to take care of Tabitha. Maybe you could tell Dennis, the boy who lives across the street, that I said hi as well? Don't be afraid to tell him where I went either. He knows I've been acting weird lately._

 _Speaking of Bowser, could you please not tell him about this letter? I want to be able to do what I need to without a giant lizard trying to make my life hell._

 _Happy Valentine's Day. I'll see you when this is all over._

 _Sam_

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

I left the note on my desk. I threw my bag over my shoulders and went for the bedroom door.

 _"Hey!"_

My rush of energy suddenly evaporated. I turned on my heel. My heart began to thump. It's amazing how fast you can go from being motivated to "Oh God, I haven't left the room yet and someone's already caught me".

To my weird relief, Dennis' red locks and blue pupils greeted me from the other side of the window.

I marched over and pulled the window open. Winter's freezing air blew in. I crossed my arms over my chest to rub at my shoulders.

"What the hell do you want _?"_ I hissed.

He stared at me for the longest, stupidest time. Finally, he said, "What happened?"

"What do you mean "what happened"?" I said. "I'm fine. Now leave."

"What happened to _you?"_ Dennis elaborated.

I didn't answer him.

"It's obvious," he said. "You've been crying."

"He's gone," I said. "I'm leaving for the Darklands."

"Huh?"

"Mario is _dead_ , Dennis," I said. "Bowser showed up, and he wants to take me to his world."

 _"Huh?"_

A new wave of tears burned around my eyes. Did he really not get it? _"Mario is dead,"_ I shouted, _"and Bowser can go fuck himself!"_

Did I truly have the best idea of running off and leaving only a note behind? What if I couldn't resurrect Mar? What else could I do?

My thoughts overwhelmed me. I felt the urge to curl up and continue crying. It was foolish of me to think of following my emotions. I might as well let Bowser take me to the Darklands right now. That could have been what Mar meant.

"I'm sorry," Dennis said.

I glared at him.

He hesitated and shrank from the window. "Could I come in?" he asked.

"Why are you here?" I said. "Did you forget something?"

He nodded. "Yeah, actually. Nobody answered the front door."

"So you climbed on my roof again," I finished, sighing loudly. "Is your stupid thing in here? I have to run."

I heard his feet hit the floor. "'Run?'"

 _"Yes,"_ I hissed. "There's a green pipe sticking out of my bathroom toilet right now, like when Mario's hat first showed up. I don't want to be stuck with Bowser. I want to be anywhere but here or in the Darklands. So if you could excuse me—"

A warmth crept around me. A pair of hands slipped down to my hips.

"No," Dennis said, lowering his voice. "It seems like you need help."

I couldn't stifle my little gasp. My tears came back in full force.

Mario might have been right about Dennis. As strange as it still seemed, he cared about me.

"Why did—" He hesitated. "Why did he die?"

My mouth moved before I could stop it. "I don't know," I said, sniffling. "I left the room to get him hot cocoa. When I got back upstairs, he had gotten a lot weaker. Before he really died…" I struggled once again to hold back the tears. "He told me…"

His last words bubbled to the surface of my mind. _"And thanks… For being a friend."_

I pressed against Dennis. I couldn't put my own voice to those words.

"Jesus," he muttered. He wrapped his arms the rest of the way around me. "I barely got to know him."

While I didn't want to, I tore away from his embrace. I again cleaned my face on my sleeve. "I can't stay here. I need to get downstairs and take the pipe in my bathroom to the Darklands. But first I need supplies from the kitchen. I'm leaving this place once I'm done in there."

"Back up," he said, lifting a hand, "I don't think I completely understand—"

I grabbed his arm and tugged on it. "Fine, I'll show you."

He initially resisted. When I didn't relent, he relaxed and allowed me to drag him to my bed, where I grabbed my bookbag.

I led him down the stairs and came to a stop at the very bottom, where I released him and crept up to the wall by the living room arch. "Peek in there," I said. "Tell me what you see."

I watched Dennis' face. His eyebrows rose. It took only a second for his pupils to grow as wide as discs.

"No way," he said. " _Bowser?!"_

"Yep," I whispered. "King of the koopas."

"He's _hanging out_ with your _dad_?"

I turned away. I quickly moved across the foyer to the kitchen.

Dennis scrambled to join me. I wish he could have been a little quieter. He carried something on his person that jingled when he ran.

"My keys," he said, slapping his hand over his pocket.

"If you want to help me, grab as many canned goods as you can," I said. "Make sure they're the ones with those tabs on the top."

"Are you sure about this?" he asked. "I don't want you to get hurt."

I stepped over Tabitha along the way. I gave her a quick smile. This could be the last time I would ever see her, or my dad, or Dennis. I chose to leave so soon after I began warming up to the latter two. I had a mission to focus on, though.

"If I get hurt," I said, "it's because I care about Mario. I'm not letting him go just yet."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Dennis dropped a few more cans into my bag. "Guess this is the last of it."

I reached over and zipped it closed. "Good," I said. "Now I have to—"

"Are you _absolutely sure_ about this?" he asked.

"Yes," I said. "Now I have to—"

He interrupted me _again._ "You're going to be all alone. Sure, Mario's world can be sunshine and roses, but it's still pretty dangerous."

I lifted one of my hands and set it on fire.

" _That's_ going to help you?" he said, shaking his head.

"I know what I'm doing," I said.

"Sam."

"Since when were you an expert on surviving on your own?" I said.

"Since when were _you?"_ he retorted. "What do you know about traveling or camping or—"

"Shut up."

"You could _die,_ Sammy."

 _"Shut up!"_ I shouted, clenching my fists.

Dennis let out a long, loud sigh. "You're not thinking about this rationally. Maybe if you could talk to Bowser about this—"

 _"No."_

"Or maybe bring some _water_ along with your food—"

I tore open the fridge and tossed a few bottles of Huntersfield water into my bag.

"Or bring a pot or pan to cook with—"

I shoved a small cooking pot over the water bottles.

"Or not go at all!"

A loud voice boomed over his. "So we're in agreement?"

We paused.

"I'll go upstairs and get her. …Yes, I suppose you should see her off."

Dennis and I made eye contact.

I reached down to zipper my bag closed. _"Or_ you could make yourself useful and distract Bowser and my dad while I make my escape," I mumbled to him.

"Sam, _please,"_ he said, "listen to me." He hopped down from the counter so that he could directly face me.

"Nothing you say will change my mind," I said. "Come on."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Bowser's footsteps caused a localized earthquake as he made his way up the stairs to my room. I found it to be a miracle that they could support his weight.

Father followed slowly behind him. He kept staring at Bowser's backside. I offhandedly wondered if he were afraid of accidentally being impaled by the spikes on that shell.

"Sam?" Father called. "You have to go!"

"Move," I mumbled to Dennis, _"now."_

We entered the foyer behind them. I walked ahead of Dennis. My heavy bookbag made me haunch over.

Father turned the corner on the steps. "Sam?" he called again.

"When they discover I'm not there, do whatever you can to slow them down," I said. "Make them play Twenty Questions, I don't care."

Dennis met my gaze. "Sam, I—"

 _"She's not here!"_ Bowser shouted.

A few seconds went by. Father replied, "Maybe she's in the closet? There's a little hallway in her room that leads to one."

"Stupid," I said, rolling my eyes. I made my way out into the open.

"I doubt it," Bowser said. "Let me through, maybe she's somewhere else…"

"Alright, I got to go," I said. "See you, Dennis."

"Wai-wait," he managed to stutter out, "Sam, I… I-I—"

I whirled around on my heel. "No time," I said. "This is goodbye, for now!"

"I love you!" Dennis yelled.

I spun to glare at him. What the absolute _hell_ did he say?

"Please," he quietly said, "you can't do this! You can't just _leave_. Not after—"

"What's going on down here?!" Bowser roared.

Dennis froze. He slowly turned toward the stairs.

"Dear God…" he said. A shiver went down his spine. He glanced my way again.

Whether he "loved" me or not, he needed to do this for me. "Distract him," I mouthed to him. _"Goodbye."_

I dashed over to the bathroom hallway. I ducked behind the wall and put a hand to my heart. It seemed to want to burst out of my chest.

"Who are you?" Bowser asked.

And so, to my surprise, Dennis started singing. And he sounded _di_ _sgustingly_ off-key. I cringed at him attempting to hit a high note and, at the same time, live up to his last name.

"What is the meaning of this?!" the koopa king shouted. There was a heavy crash on the floor.

Dennis' singing got a little shaky, yet he didn't stop. I risked taking a peek from behind the wall.

Bowser blocked me from seeing Dennis. A tiny part of me wanted to see their faces. I could only imagine the look of anger on the former's face. I silently hoped he wouldn't take his rage out on anybody when they discovered I was gone.

"Dennis?" Father said. "Where's Sam?"

He stopped singing. For a moment, I thought he would crack. To my immediate relief, he switched to a completely different song. This one didn't sound as bad, especially since he started it off with nondescript chanting.

 _"SHUT UP!"_ Bowser yelled. "You are a terrible bard!"

Dennis nervously laughed. "About that..." he said.

I made my way to the bathroom while shaking my head at that turn of events. I went up to the green pipe sticking out of my toilet and gripped its edges. All I could see ahead of me was a void.

The lightbulbs overhead shone as bright as ever. Their blinding glare would be the last sight I would get of my world. I took a moment to commit them to my memory and sat down at the edge of the pipe. And after what seemed to be an eternity passing, I looked back down into the darkness.

I pushed myself into the pipe. The world around me went black.

"Let'sa go," I shouted. _"_ _For Mario!"_


	31. The Darklands

The wind whistled around me. I didn't dare move as I plummeted through the warp pipe. Gravity did all of the work. I only prayed to any gods that could be out there that I came out of this in one piece. Besides, I was doing this for Mario. I couldn't afford to be frightened. I couldn't think about dying a painful death. Just breathe.

I risked a peek at the road ahead. I saw continued to see nothing up ahead. How much longer would the ride be? When would I stand on solid ground?

A light pierced the tunnel. Tints of green lit up within the pipe.

Sweat beaded down my face. It came from the oppressive heat suddenly clinging to my clothes. A strange instinct of mine made me lift my left fist up. It felt strangely natural to have it in the air.

I stopped moving rather abruptly and reopened my eyes. To my immense relief, I found both of my feet planted on a red rug with golden trim.

I finally made it to Mario's world. The pipe that carried me here disappeared into the ground. So like it or not, I would be stranded here for the next while.

As if right on cue, several people gasped.

I gritted my teeth. My escape from the Darklands would be difficult unless Bowser hired the most basic of troops to guard his home.

" _She's_ the kid Bowser's been crazy about?" a voice whispered. "That scrawny thing?"

The sight of two koopa troopas to my left strangely didn't faze me. The turtles wore nothing except for the red shells on their backs.

They wielded metal spears. The points on them seemed to be deadly sharp. Worse, one of the guards pointed his at me. I couldn't help recalling how Mar died to one of those things. I silently swore that I wouldn't, at least willingly, end up like him.

The guard not threatening me with his weapon leaned over to his friend. "Dude," he said, "I think she heard you."

I got to my feet. "Damn right I did," I said.

They blocked a pair of giant, wooden doors. The first of them to speak pushed his spear further out at me.

"Mayhaps you could talk to me instead?"

I caught the slightest hint of gray from glancing over my shoulder.

"It's good to finally see you in the flesh, dear," a voice said. "Especially so soon after you got my message!"

I rolled my eyes. "Let me through," I said to the koopas, "or I'll pummel you both."

"Her too?" the second guard said.

The woman walking up next to me giggled. "I'm afraid you wouldn't survive a fight with me, sweetheart," she said. "Why you would ever want to run away from me?"

A strange buzz sounded by my ear. I turned around.

Morganthia, wearing her black hood, smiled back at me. She lifted a black stick, tipped with a white star, up to my face. The star crackled with silvery energy.

"None of your business," I said as I fought down the rising heat in my eyes. I couldn't succumb to my feelings when I might have a chance of getting out of here.

"I'm afraid it is," she said, "seeing as Khione—"

"Took over Princess Peach's territory and people are probably depressed over it," I said. "No thanks, I'm good."

She shut her eyes. Her free hand reached up to clutch at her chest. "I didn't think you would be so unwilling to help us," she said. "And after all that time Bowser and I put into tracking someone of your particular talents down..."

Oh, she wanted to guilt me? Please. "If you can transport people between worlds," I said, "I'm sure you could find a replacement." I held a fireball out to the koopas. Its embers leaked out from the sides of my palm.

The koopa holding his spear at me shook. He pushed it further in at me.

I didn't flinch. I wouldn't fail my mission already. This world _needed_ Mario to come back.

Morganthia's wand crackled like an old television set in my ear. A chill involuntarily went down my spine. One wrong move and she could probably do terrible things to me.

"Don't," she snarled.

I flung my fireball at her head.

She jumped back. The flames hit the ground where she previously stood before it broke apart. It left a small part of the red rug black in its wake.

She laughed. "Nice try."

"I'm not staying here," I said, stepping toward the doors.

"And I'm not letting my work be for naught," she said. "Stop this nonsense."

Both of the koopas stuck their spears out at me. If they got involved, this would become a three on one fight. I might be able to knock them down, but how would I deal with the sorceress? _Could_ I fight her?

The fires I held wavered.

"Well?" Morganthia inquired.

I had no other options. I needed to fight her if I hoped to set a foot out of this chamber alone. So I lifted my arms in front of me. My flames came back stronger than before.

"Is that all you can do?" she said. "Shoot fire from your palms?"

I led a trail of flames to my feet. Funny how she gave me a good idea. I might as well set my entire body on fire if I physically fought her. It never harmed me, so why would I be afraid?

"Oh," she said, crossing her arms, "I see."

"You're _begging_ for me to kick your ass," I said.

"I'd like to see you try," she countered. Her weapon glowed the same silver color from before. "Would you like to strike first, or should I?"

The embers around me grew hotter. They flung wildly about my person. I might have been impressed if I weren't in the heat of the moment.

The ground beneath us made the first move. The entire room wildly shook. A rug beneath our feet tore apart as various cracks opened up on the floor.

I stumbled forward. The flames on me sputtered out.

One koopa screamed. He withdrew into his green shell.

The other one dropped his spear. He went wide-eyed and joined the weapon on the floor thanks to the tremors.

Morganthia didn't seem affected by the shaking. She thrust her wand at me. "King Bowser returns!" she said. "Do _not_ move."

I did the opposite. I threw the full force of my body against one of the big doors behind me. It instantly gave way under my weight. I didn't hesitate to race down the hallway behind it.

As I ran, the various windows in the hallway's walls flew by. Dozens of stone buildings surrounded the castle Bowser called home. Just as many torches lit them up under the night sky. The view of them reminded me a bit of New York City when one gazes at it from high up in the air.

I forced myself away from the windows before I could get too invested in the view. It's not every day that you come across a civilization that lived on molten rock. The castle also seemed too high up in the air for my taste.

The earthquake continued all around me. People falling over themselves exclaimed in surprise when I dashed by. The sounds of their ensuing panic echoed up and down the hall, as did the sounds of glass breaking. I could have sworn I heard somebody curse as well.

I only followed the red carpet. I was absolutely using the quake to my advantage. There may not be any other way to evade Bowser and that Morganthia lady.

 _"Get her!"_ a voice rang out of nowhere.

Somebody else roared incomprehensibly.

I spun around. Maybe I shouldn't have spoken so soon.

I spun around and let my fire loose. I put all of my force into it; I couldn't leave them mobile enough to continue following me.

The small koopa behind me shrieked as she ran out of my line of fire. The bow on her head went up in flames.

 _"Yah!"_

 _Great._ Bowser's troops were trying to block my escape route. Did he want me _that_ bad?

I ran forward. I did my best to fling fire at both passing objects and people. Even if I didn't set anything on fire, it had to ward off anyone trying to play the "hero".

Right. The "hero". One of my attacks stopped in midair and dropped to the floor. Others met several blasts of energy. When the blasts cleared up, the koopa with a shock of blue hair standing ahead of me frowned. He lifted a silver wand gathering blue light at its tip.

"Sorry kid," Ludwig von Koopa said. "The road ends here."

He waved his wand. It launched a blue magical attack at me.

I slowed down before I pitched another one of my fireballs at it. It met the attack halfway. They both fizzled into the hot, heavy air.

"I'M GONNA GET YOU!" yet another new voice cried.

I turned around once more. A giant hammer, of all things, flew through the air toward me. I couldn't make out what I yelped with my own ears when its cold, hard surface slammed down on my face.

"GOT HER!"

I dropped down on my back. My forehead throbbed like hell.

A pair of bare, scaly feet shuffled by me. "It needed to be done," their owner, Ludwig said.

I held my head and groaned. I suddenly felt like dying from the intense heat of the pain. _Why_ did they have to hit me _that_ hard?

"My bow…" a female voice whimpered. _"How dare you!"_

"VICTORY!" my attacker said.

"Fuck you too," I moaned. This couldn't be the end of the road for me. All I wanted was Mar back. That couldn't too much to ask for. Why didn't I even say that was my intention when I first came out of that pipe? Would Morganthia have listened to me?

I bit my lip and shut my eyes to prevent my tears from escaping again. I couldn't dwell on the past. I made that stupid decision to flee. Look at where that got me.

I opened my eyes again. They might have grown at the sight I saw then and there if I met the three beings in front of me under different circumstances. Before me stood a trio of koopas. Or maybe I should call them _Koopalings_.

Ludwig, at the front of their group, crossed his arms over his chest. He quietly studied me.

The only girl, Wendy, pouted. She hugged her pink hairbow, spotted with white, that I made extra crispy.

The big guy, with a gray star marked over his left eye, I believe was named Morton? I wouldn't know; I don't keep track of the Koopalings. He must have been the bastard who brought me down, though; he leaned on the evidence!

"I don't want to be here," I managed to say. "Let me go."

Ludwig leaned over me. He tilted his head. "Well…" he said. "Morton, you brought her down, so you're holding her."

"No," I hissed, sitting up. I clutched at my head. "I'll poke his eyes out." Really, I would. And I would get the rest of the Koopalings for this while I was at it.

Morton frowned. "I like my eyes," he said.

Ludwig rolled his pupils. He looked up from me and motioned over my head.

"Aw, come on," another new voice whined. _"I_ have to take her?"

"Larry's a bit too short to support her," Ludwig said.

"Hey!" somebody, most likely Larry, said.

"Do you expect me to drag the girl with us?" Wendy huffed. "Get your butt over here."

Morton snorted at this. That further cemented my desire to kick his head in.

Another one of the Koopalings came over. I think his name could have been Iggy? Seriously, how could anyone normally keep track of who is who here aside from Wendy and Ludwig? I always have a hard time remembering the skinnier members of their group.

This new Koopaling bent down over me. His green hair defied the laws of gravity. That is unless he regularly shampooed it. It reminded me of the leafy part of a carrot.

He adjusted the glasses over his snout. His other claw brushed over my shoulder.

I flinched at his touch. "You don't need anyone to hold me. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Ludwig asked. "Morton got you good there."

"I want to be on my own feet," I replied. "I won't run." As much as the words hurt, I added, "I… I submit."

Iggy gave me a dumb smile.

"You should be glad," Wendy told me. "We normally would have taken you to the king for a stunt like that."

"We won't be taking you to Morganthia either," Ludwig added.

I nearly breathed out a sigh of relief. Thank God. I did have a chance of getting out of here. This could be a matter of playing along until I could flee from them.

But, "Why?" I asked. I cringed from my pain. "Don't you all serve Bowser?"

Ludwig folded his arms. "I don't trust that witch," he said. "My lord only listens to her because he wants to reunite with his princess."

"Oh, does he?"

Our heads turned. A woman in a black cloak marched down the hallway toward us.

"Bowser wants to get rid of Khione," Morganthia said. "She took more than the princess from him, you know." A cloud of back mist materialized at her feet. "I suggest you hand over Sammy. She has caused enough trouble trying to run away from us."

"Stuff it, Vampire Peach," Larry said.

"Your kind isn't welcome here," Ludwig added.

Vampire? They couldn't be serious. I gave her another look-over. She had those white fangs popping out from her upper lip, sure…

"Really?" I muttered to Iggy.

He laughed in response. I nearly covered my poor ears to protect them from his irritatingly shrill voice.

"You haven't seen nothing yet, girl!" he said.

"She won't see _anything_ if she stays here," Ludwig said. "Get ready!"

The five Koopalings each lifted an arm. Their wands all glowed an amber color.

"A teleportation spell?" Morganthia said. She lifted her own wand. "Well, let's see how you like this!" She let loose a ball of white energy.

Morton bellowed. He threw Wendy, who stood next to him, aside.

She hit the floor screaming.

My mouth fell open. It fell more when he charged in front of the rest of us.

The energy ball hit him. He seemed unaffected by it as he said, "You DARE to challenge ME?!"

"Morton," Ludwig gasped, "you dumb brute, wait—"

A bright light enveloped our now much smaller group. Wendy's stick went flying out of her hand after Morton pushed her out of the circle. This left her gaping at the rest of us from outside of the bright bubble.

"DIE, VAMPIRE!" Morton yelled. He jumped on the woman, who shouted her own garbled battle cry.

The light overtook what remained of the group. I tried to move. I couldn't. A buzz echoed through the air.

The oppressive heat around me turned cold. The castle faded away, replaced by a sheet of complete white.

When it did, a silvery light pierced through the white. Somebody next to me gasped. Another cried out in pain.

I couldn't physically react to it. My mind raced trying to connect the screams to people.

Ludwig unknowingly answered my questions. "Larry?" he said. "Iggy? No!"

I still couldn't move. I couldn't react. _Why couldn't I do anything? Why couldn't I…_

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Kid! Are you there?"

I blinked and gasped for air. Geez, what knocked the wind out of me?

"I'm… Okay," I said, between my breaths. "I think."

"You survived being teleported," Ludwig said. He came over the stand in front of me. "Congratulations." The world went dark. I could barely make out his face. "Morganthia must have pulled Larry and Iggy out of the bubble mid-way through the process." His wand lit up and he held it in the air. It revealed the white snowflakes flurrying around us. "...Better them than one of us. After what happened I wouldn't want to be at the castle."

"Where are we?" I said. I wiped away a few flakes that landed on the front of my sweater.

He made a face. He also brushed some snow off his scales. "We're within the Mushroom Kingdom, or as everyone else likes to call it, New Crumbleden."

"Really?" I honestly expected to run all the way here. Did I pack a bag for nothing?

"Iggy's, Larry's, and my wand's powers carried us past its borders," he told me. He scowled at the dark, cloudy sky. "If Morton hadn't attacked the vampire and pushed Wendy out, the combined power of our wands would have brought us into Toad Town."

"Wait a second," I said, "so not only were you "rescuing" me, the Koopalings were planning to abandon your boss?"

He ran a claw through his hair. "Not exactly." He started walking ahead of me. "Follow me."

I watched him go. Just… _Just what kind of day have I been having?!_ Way too many things happened over the span of a few hours. I wanted to sleep at this point. If only Mar were here to make things better...

Ludwig turned around. "Well?" he called to me. "I didn't go through all of this trouble for nothing. Come on."

I shut my eyes and squeezed them hard to limit the flow of tears. My head still hurt.

He let out a long, drawn-out sigh and shuffled back over to me. "Did Morton hit you that bad?" he asked. He pointed his light at my head. "All I see is some bruising. Your body will heal that before tomorrow morning if you really are a star child."

I didn't say anything. I doubted I could explain why I felt upset to him, of all people. He was _nothing_ like Mario.

"Star children are rarely incapacitated or sick for long," he said. "Their bodies work much quicker than a normal being's to make sure of that." He gestured to me. "Now stop dawdling around. We should set up a camp for the night." He walked away again.

I joined him this time. We struggled our way through a giant mound of snow. Every step I took forward left more white powder clinging to my pants.

Ludwig growled whenever his yellow feet slipped under the white sheet. He continuously pulled them out and shook them free of snow before racing forward.

All of the trees ahead of us were stripped bare of leaves. Many of their branches sagged from all of the weight piled on top of them. An innumerable count of tree branches that already broke off littered the landscape. Many more were being peeled from their parent tree.

It almost saddened me. All of those trees must have died a long time ago. If the Mushroom Kingdom were ever saved by someone, _not me,_ they would have to rebuild its ecology from scratch.

Ludwig stopped. He scanned the area. Then he nodded to himself. "Help me gather wood," he said, looking at me from over his spiky blue shell. "I'll tell you everything you need to know once we've got a campfire going."

* * *

 **Ludwig joining Sam was a surprise for me, because, to be honest, I don't like the Koopalings as much as other SM fans. I originally wanted them all to send Sam off as a middle finger to Morganthia. But with Roy and Lemmy being MIA, this idea seemed better.**

 **It helps with what I have planned for the end, as well, so look forward to that!**

 **GitS**


	32. On the Road

**Does anyone feel like my updates are coming in too fast? Or is it just me? I keep having the idea of finishing the initial draft of _Seeing Red_ on its second anniversary, but... College, my internet access, and a myriad of other factors may prevent that. We'll have to see.**

 **Any feedback, positive or negative (I'd personally prefer a mix of both, but you do you) on this story's past or present chapters would be appreciated. I sometimes post responses to reviews (Or reviews themselves) during r/fanfiction's Talkback Thursday, so if you want to get your say in, go ahead!**

 **Have a good day,**

 **GitS**

* * *

Fire flew from my palm. It easily melted the snow away while leaving brown dirt behind. I also evaporated the moisture it left in its wake.

Ludwig bent over the campfire we made as I worked. He picked up the can resting on my bag.

 _"Pasta O's?"_ he read off of it.

"It's like spaghetti," I said, "except it's not. Think of it as a soup."

He popped the top open. "Into the pot it goes."

I watched as more brown dirt emerged from beneath the white powder. All of the grass, if there had been any here, died alongside the forest a long time ago.

Not only did the Mushroom Kingdom lose its hero, but it also lost its beauty too. If somebody overthrew Khione, it would take years for it to regain its splendor. I kind of wished that I could have seen the place before she came and ruined it all.

"Are you almost done?" Ludwig said.

"I think I have been," I said, gesturing to the big brown box around us.

"Get over here. Dinner's ready."

I put out my fires and walked back to our campsite.

Ludwig handed me a bowl of _Pasta O's_ when I sat down by him. "I made two of the cans," he said.

I settled my bowl in my lap. "That's fine," I answered.

He looked up at the sky. "The precipitation stopped."

The dark clouds were parting. I made out a few tiny specks of colorful stars above them.

"Khione's storm stops when the Moon's due to rise," he said. "It always comes back when it sets."

"Is there ever sunlight?" I asked.

He shook his head. "She would never allow it. Most Crumbledens despise light and warmth. They've banned any public displays of fire and have strong hate of anyone who has power over it."

My head shot up. I swallowed my _Pasta O's._

Seeing my widening eyes, he added, "You might not have to worry about that. Most fire-wielding creatures emit extreme amounts of heat. I've no clue why you aren't." He shrugged. "Maybe it's your star blood."

"Huh," I could only say. I turned my attention to the slowly-increasing amount of stars in the cloudy sky.

Father would have loved the chance to see an otherworldly sky. I sort of knew about my world's stars and constellations from whenever he used to talk about them. He always used to tell me of how travelers back then could use the Dipper constellations to locate Polaris, the North Star, if they, for some reason, got lost. And though he often declared astrology to be a load of bullcrap, he always seemed eager to point out the constellations associated with them to me.

I could never stand how he could go on for hours on end about space. That might have been one of the reasons we drifted as far apart as we did.

"The vampire named you as Sammy," Ludwig said. "Am I right?"

"I prefer Sam," I said. "It's shorter."

"Sam," he repeated, nodding. "Got it. I'm—"

"Ludwig von Koopa. You work for Bowser alongside the rest of Koopalings, though I'm not sure if you're one of his kids."

He lifted a finger. "Uh…"

"Morganthia sent me a message about your world before Bowser showed up. He filled me in on the rest of the details." Of course I lied. How else would I able to explain my knowledge?

He scowled. "I'm not one of Lord Bowser's spawn," he said. "Where did you get _that_ idea from?"

Well, the fandom for the Koopalings usually thought they were related to Bowser. I didn't answer his question with this, obviously. I would _never_ be prepared to explain Mario's games or the _internet_ to Ludwig.

"I'm a few years younger than he is."

I glanced at his face, and that single tooth popping out of his upper lip, in the firelight.

"How old are you?" I asked.

"Twenty-seven. Lord Bowser is in his early thirties."

"What about Bowser Junior?"

"He finished celebrating his twelfth birthday when he…" Ludwig stopped. He put the spoon he held back into his bowl. He let out a low growl.

"Something happened to Bowser's heir?" I said.

He frowned.

I normally avoided discussing children, but Bowser Junior was the future heir to a kingdom. I couldn't simply ignore his disappearance.

"I should tell you why the Koopalings aided you in your escape," he said. He settled into a crossed-legged position. "To put it simply, none of us like Morganthia."

"All seven of you?" I said.

Ludwig's eyes narrowed into slits.

I got an uneasy feeling out of that. Maybe I shouldn't have probed him.

"Sam," he said, "there aren't seven of us anymore."

I wanted to speak. Nothing came to mind.

"It's the Crumbledens' fault," he said. "They took him prisoner, and they killed him. _They_ _killed him._

"Lemmy went into Khione's territory searching for Bowser's spawn. The Crumbledens shot his clown car down. Nobody can fly in their airspace without their permission, apparently.

"The rest of us went to investigate why he never returned home. All we found were the pieces of his clown car and blood. _Blood!"_ He threw his arms up. "They might have left him to bleed out before dragging him away. We found piles upon piles of blood in and around the crash site.

My spoon splashed into my bowl. I nearly felt sick trying to imagine this scenario happening to someone, especially Bowser's lieutenants. A koopaling crawled out of a destroyed clown car only to die due to poor management later on. And it happened to a character people in the "real" world probably loved, no less.

I opened my mouth. I still couldn't speak. I didn't know _what_ I could say.

Ludwig's voice rose in volume. "The Crumbledens have refused to give us his body ever since. I don't know why. He's dead! You shouldn't be keeping him as a "prisoner", like Daisy and Peasley."

"Wait." _Princess_ Daisy? _Prince_ Peasley? "What?"

Ludwig ignored me. "I constantly worry that Junior will be found and captured by her forces next. Many, including my other siblings, have said that they've seen him running this way. If Khione gets him, will she hurt a _child?"_ He paused. When the wind blowing by us ceased, he yelled out, "They'll probably slaughter him along with Princess Daisy and Prince Peasley! _A child_ not much younger than Lemmy! Those bastards must not care who you are as long as you die for their amusement."

My words slowly tumbled out of me. "I had no idea…"

"Of course you didn't!" Ludwig said. "How would you? My brother's mistreatment is why we helped you. We don't want to associate with Crumbledens when their queen's holding my brother's _corpse_ hostage."

"Didn't you say earlier that Bowser's working with Morganthia so that he can see Peach again?"

"Yes," he hissed. "My king is still driven by a lust for that stupid pink-loving princess. One of these days he needs to realize that she'll always love a dead plumber more than him."

My breath caught in my throat at the passing mention of Mario. I could certainly relate to Ludwig. He mourned Lemmy. I felt an emptiness from not having Mar there to privately discuss my thoughts. The only difference seemed to be that Ludwig was more vocal about the person, _the brother,_ he lost.

I squeezed down the heat in my face. If my plan didn't work, I would never get the chance to speak with my friend again. I _needed_ to bring him back, no matter what the cost ended up being.

"I appreciate that you got me away from Morganthia," I said, bowing my head. "I never intended to stay at the castle."

"How come?" Ludwig asked.

"I didn't want to be stuck there," I managed to quickly respond. "I wanted to see a whole new world, because, frankly, mine has gone mad—"

He waved his claw dismissively. "Eh. I'm just glad that you're cooperating with me. All I'm doing now is escorting you to Toad Town— I mean, New Crumbleden."

I asked him a similar question to his earlier one. "Why?"

"To make sure you, a star child, stay far away from Morganthia's stupid plans," he said. His eyes twinkled like the stars in the fire's light. "This is my revenge for what her people did to us Darklanders."

I put down my empty bowl. "Well, thank you," I said, "for rescuing me."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

When Dennis and I packed my bag, I made the great, terrible mistake of not packing items to sleep with. I got too wrapped up on how I would survive the weather through other means.

"Dumbass," I hissed. If I could slap my face without feeling the pain afterward, I would. She deserved it for not thinking straight.

You know, _Dennis_ , who had been worried about me leaving, could have maybe _mentioned_ it while he helped me pack! Why didn't he? He _should have._

The frosty air worked through my bones even with the small embers on my person. My teeth chattered. I withdrew my arms into both my coat and sweater sleeves.

I glared at Ludwig's shell. He slept in it at the opposite side of the clearing. At least _he_ brought a "blanket".

Our campfire burnt out a while back. We didn't have any wood left. The koopaling didn't allow me to collect more before he fell asleep.

* * *

 _Ludwig's wand glowed bright green. A dome formed over our heads. It stretched to the edge of the clearing I made._

 _"That will keep the snow off us in the morning," he said. "Now go to bed."_

 _I tried to protest. "Well—"_

 _"I run the show here, kid. Get some sleep."_

* * *

He never mentioned if his spell could ward off the cold. I should have asked him if he could.

I couldn't confront him about it now. I didn't want to risk pissing off a newfound ally, especially one that served the king of the koopas. So I coated my body in flames and kept vigil over the campsite for the rest of the night.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The next morning turned out to be hell. My attempt at cooking _Pasta O's_ without a proper fire made it explode out of the bowl I dumped it in. I wasted several bottles of water washing the lukewarm soup off my face while Ludwig, who awoke from the noise, giggled like a schoolgirl.

"This isn't funny!" I hissed between my teeth.

He widely grinned. "You missed a spot on your forehead," he said.

I wiped it away with my sleeve.

"And your nose."

I got rid of that spot.

"And by your ear."

Being tired from the night before, I gave up and dumped an entire water bottle over my face. Let me say this upfront: _ba_ _d idea._ The drink froze overnight. Chunks of ice spilled out over my eyeballs.

I shrieked. My instant reaction was to throw the water across the campsite.

Ludwig laughed louder.

I wiped the ice from my face. "Shut up."

Embers emerged from the drier of my hands. They weakly flickered in the spots more covered in moisture.

 _Stupid_ soup can. Recovering from my shock **,** I shook its contents out onto a clean plate. I roughly tossed it back into my bookbag when the last bits of pasta emerged from it. The can clanked against all of the others.

Snow fell from the sky shortly after the Moon set just like my fellow camper said. It steadily got heavier outside of the magic dome.

When I finished packing my junk up, I went over to Ludwig. I slipped into my winter coat along the way.

Ludwig dispelled the barrier. He grumbled when flakes from the blizzard suddenly landed in his hair.

"I could see if I have a hood for you," I called over a howling wind.

"I don't need one," he shot back.

"Are you sure?" I reached for the zipper of my bag. "I packed a lot of clothes before making the trip to your homeland. The least I could do is share them."

He folded his arms.

"It's your choice," I said. "Take it or leave it."

That was how Ludwig came to wear my father's old blue jacket. I couldn't help feeling a pang of guilt seeing him in it instead of Mario. My friend wore it more comfortably than this koopaling and his shell did.

We went off into the winter wonderland. Ludwig, as he did before, struggled through the elements. He stopped me about two or three times to pull him from its depths. None of those times were easy on my back. His shell made him a heavy guy.

"Thank you," he sighed whenever I got him out. "Again."

"Do we have to walk through this the whole way there?" I said. I shook a pile of snow collecting in my sneaker out.

"The main road to New Crumbleden should be up ahead," he said. "I've been thinking of teleporting us to it."

"Why haven't you? It would make our lives a lot easier."

He shook his head. "I don't know if I should. Magic like that tends to suck away at your strength unless you're as experienced at magic as Kamek is. I want to save my strength in case we get into trouble. That's why I got my siblings to help fire off that last teleportation spell."

"Well," I said, "if you're not willing to try that, I'll take the lead and melt the ice directly in front of me. It might be easier for you to walk in the mud.

His eyes rolled up. Perhaps I got him to think about it?

I threw a fireball at the ground. It left little holes in its wake as it bounced into the forest of dead trees.

Ludwig's eyes rolled back down. He gave me a slow, short nod.

I nodded back and let my fire loose on the world.

* * *

It must have been midday when Ludwig perked up. He raced up to me and pointed straight ahead.

"We're getting close," he told me.

"About time," I said.

Packets of snow burned away when my ankles simply slid past them. At some point during our journey, I figured it would be better than sticking my arms out. We were able to move much faster when I didn't torch everything in sight too.

I covered my eyes with an arm and blinked through the blizzard bearing down on me. My mission once again made itself clear. _Mario._ When Ludwig left, I would be free to pursue that goal.

"Alright, let's do this," I said to the koopaling through the storm. "Let's—"

I didn't get a chance to react to the bright flash of light slamming into my head.

I went flying. I did a weird turn in the air. My face met the powder beneath my feet.

"What the hell was _that?"_ I yelled, pulling my face out of the snow.

The ground trembled. I slipped face-first back into the snow. It sounded almost like the earthquake back in Bowser's castle.

"Behind you!" a voice, perhaps Ludwig's, yelled back at me.

I shook my face free of powder. I jerked my head around.

Chunks of ice tumbled from the massive pile, which could almost be compared to a mountain, shifting behind me.

"No!" I screamed, jumping to my feet. "No no no no no no no no no…"

I ran. The avalanche bared down on me. I fled from it fast, but apparently not fast enough. The world devolved into white. I cried out. Could someone hear me over the sounds of the avalanche? I braced myself for the full brunt of its impact. I couldn't die. I didn't want to die here. Not right after I got to the gates of Toad Town.

Mario. I got all the way here for him. Now it seemed I would join him in death. I nearly wanted to laugh at the possibility. I was too young to die!

And yet, Mario died young. He had his whole future ahead of him. He could have gone on for many more years fighting Bowser over the princess before maybe Peach and he would settle down. They could have had a family to carry on the princess' royal line, and Mario would be remembered for generations to come for all that he did to protect his world.

Me? I'm a stupid high school senior who might be held back a year, both for failing her classes and disappearing off the face of the Earth for no apparent reason. Maybe I had some sort of future before Mario came into my life. Maybe I didn't. I merely knew that I would never become the hero the people needed like my friend. That wasn't my job.

Orange and red. I saw orange and red. The colors danced around me, slapping at the snow devouring me for lunch. Streams of water dripped from where they melted the wall. It didn't stop their frantic assault.

I gasped. I could barely breathe. All of the colors flashed black for the briefest of moments. Ice chilled me to the very bone.

"Help!" I gasped out. "Somebody? Anybody?"

The heaviness of the cocoon ensnaring me drowned my voice out. I barely made out my own words.

The orange and red flames died. I saw nor felt anything else.


	33. At the Gates

The last thing I expected was to wake up again. My eyes opened to snowflakes drifting down from the skies. Clouds zoomed overhead in a curve, almost like they would in a hurricane.

A shadow at the edge of my vision shifted. I tensed up and flipped over. I let out a gurgling gasp at the figure standing over me.

Ludwig lowered his wand hand. "You respawned," he said. "That proves that you're star-blooded."

I meant to say, _"What?"_ The word barely tumbled out of my lips even as I mouthed it. All I heard was a tiny squeak.

I _died_ in that avalanche?! If I weren't "star-blooded"... I shivered just thinking about what could come after my _real_ death. What if I ended up like Mario? What if—

I furiously shook my thoughts from my head. I was too young to think about dying and, for now, I was safe. I merely needed to find a way to gather lives later.

Then again, Mar died young. He had only been six years older than me. What if his lives didn't matter when he faced down Khione? What if I ended up doing the same only to be made into a meat skewer by her spear?

 _"'Emph!"_ I shouted over the negative thoughts. It sounded oddly quiet to my ears.

Ludwig smiled. "Oh, _whoops,"_ he giggled. "I might have used a silencer spell on you."

I bared my teeth. I almost couldn't believe it, even with the fact he was known to be a villain in Mario's games. The ass got me here. He made me sympathize with his sob story, only for him to later _betray_ me.

"If you take a peek behind you," he said, "your hands are bound."

Both of my arms rose to the square of my back. I pulled them in opposite directions. My shoulders tightened from the effort. I caught the faintest glimpse of a translucent blue light wrapped around one of my wrists.

So punching in his face wasn't an option. Could I get away if I gave him a good old kick to the—

"Sorry, Sammy," he said. "Sometimes you've got to play dirty for the things you want from life."

He forced me to stand up. I would have stumbled if he didn't steady me.

"Remember what I told you about Lemmy?" he asked me. "I formed the perfect plan last night. While I hate those Crumbledens, you…" He shook his head. "Eh, you'll have to wait and see."

I pulled at my bonds. I tried summoning my fire. While a familiar heat collected in my palms, it wouldn't budge an inch. Nor would it combust into red-hot embers.

Ludwig couldn't be implying— _Oh. God. No. No! NO!_ Being held as a prisoner here would probably be worse than getting trapped in that avalanche. He might not have been able to trade me for a _corpse_ if I kicked the bucket in there.

He saw my enlarging pupils. He heartily laughed. "You figured it out already. Wouldn't you agree that a live star child would make for a better prisoner in Khione's dungeons than a dead koopaling?"

"Let go of me," I said.

Ludwig put a hand up to where his ear might have been. "I can't hear you," he said.

Well, "Hear this!" I breathed, swinging my leg forward.

So, yes. I _did_ happen to kick a high-ranking official in Bowser's army, between the legs. He flew through the air from the impact. The snow by the dirt path cushioned his fall. It swallowed him too, with pieces of the fluff falling into the hole his body created.

My foot dangled in midair. My mouth opened. I blinked maybe thrice. Since when could I kick like _that?!_

A blue shell with sharp spikes popped out of the snow. The last time I checked, my former ally still had his magic wand. He could easily regain the upper hand if I stayed here.

I turned around. Ludwig previously stated that Toad— _New Crumbleden_ wasn't that far away now. I certainly hoped that to be true.

A blizzard blew overhead. It never fell on the path. The flakes joined the walls of snow that gradually grew smaller when the path approached a hill. Some sort of magic, I figured, made this phenomenon possible. I felt grateful that it did. It would make the escape from my captor much easier.

I ran to the top of the hill. The dirt path continued down it. It went down to a set of thick, black gates surrounded by gray brick walls. I barely registered the intricate designs the gates were decorated with as I ran towards them.

I saw it. Help. The pair of guards wore dark purplish armor. They also had strange mists rolling off their bodies. The alarm bells in my head went off, but the rush of adrenaline I got couldn't care less who they were.

They could help me. They _needed_ to help me.

The two guards lifted their heads when I raced right up to them.

The taller of them had a gray-and-black striped tail whip out from behind them. It reminded me of Tabitha's tail, except it didn't have the black tip at the very end.

"Who are you?" they said.

"Help!" I managed to spit out through my magical gag. I gestured backward.

They tilted their head.

The other soldier lifted an arm— No, a leathery wing. "Somebody magically bound her hands," he piped up. "The spell isn't of Crumbleden make."

"Are you an escaped prisoner, kid?" his friend wondered aloud. "We could return you to the dungeons if you'd like."

I furiously shook my head. I motioned it backward at the koopaling running down to us. _Damn it,_ how did he catch up to me so quickly?

"Hold it!" Ludwig yelled out. "That kid is _my_ prisoner."

The tailed soldier grabbed at my shoulder. They yanked me over to them with a paw full of sharpened white claws. I could feel them push through my multiple layers of clothes and to my skin.

I almost tripped over my feet. Oh God, _please._ These guys couldn't take his side. There was no way in hell I would allow them to throw me in a jail cell in exchange for a dead body. I was worth much more than that, wasn't I?

 _"Your_ prisoner?" the feline, who I figured them to be, said. "Who are you?"

Ludwig smirked at their question. He bowed slightly. "Ludwig von Koopa of the Darklands. I've come to speak with your queen about trading her this girl."

"What for?" they asked.

"Queen Khione has the remains of Lemmy, who had been a general of King Bowser's army," he answered. "I was wondering if she'd like a _live_ specimen as a captive instead of my _brother."_ His voice gained a barbed tone to it by the end of that sentence. He stomped to my side.

I gasped when he yanked me free of the feline's claws. Sure, why don't you all treat me like a raggedy old doll?

"Your brother?" the winged guard said. "You wouldn't happen to be one of the Koopalings, would you?"

"If the name wasn't obvious enough," Ludwig spat. "I also seek help in finding Prince Bowser Junior, the heir to the Darklands."

"What's so special about the kid?"

"She's an eighth star child," he said. When neither expressed emotion to this, he also told them, "She can bend fire."

Both of the soldiers stiffened.

The winged guard leaned over to his partner. He whispered to them.

The other's long claws slapped against their side, making an irritating rhythm of metallic clangs. They tilted their head once again.

"I'm a qualified sorcerer," the winged guard said to Ludwig. "It's a good thing you have that hellspawn bound." He stepped toward me. "I won't get burned to death while performing a test on her."

I took a step back to keep a small distance between us. I trained a glare on him.

Ludwig was throwing me out like a piece of trash. Traitor. Bastard. _Asshole._ I actually wanted to kill him. Maybe a second superpowered kick to the supposed crotch or three would solve _this_ problem?

The guard took off his helmet. The odd shape of his head reminded me of Ridley from the _Metroid_ series. Other than that, he seemed to have the body of a wyvern. He fixed a blank, green-eyed stare on me.

The wyvern silent stood there. A minute might have passed before he said, "Hold on a moment. You happened to say that she is a _star child?"_

"I did," Ludwig said. "The girl…"

A strange buzz in my mind drowned out his words.

 _"Be still,"_ the wyvern said, their voice now echoing in my mind. _"I'll be in and out of here quickly if you cooperate with me."_

I was instantly reminded of my private conversations with Mar. _"What are you doing?"_ I asked.

 _"Who is this "Mar" that you are thinking about?"_ he instantly asked back.

I caught my gasp in my throat. I silenced my thoughts.

The buzz mutated into a pulse. _This test requires me to delve into your soul,"_ he said. _"Souls are, oftentimes, the_ _source of one's magic. I entered your mind in order to verify the Koopaling's claims."_

 _"You better not try anything—"_

They would not let me protest. The pulse grew as strong as a heartbeat— No, it felt like my own heartbeat.

 _"What he says is_ true _,"_ the wyvern said. _"I feel pure energy emanating from you that is much like a power star's. You are not Princess Peach, the only known female star child, however. You are—"_

 _"Sam Brown,"_ I said. _"I demand to be released."_

He made a face. He shot a look at his partner and mouthed to them.

The tail of the feline soldier smashed down on the snow piled behind them. Chunks of it collapsed onto the path.

The pulse in my head fizzled out. _"_ Not as long as you live, hellspawn," the feline hissed. "You are going straight to the queen."

The first thing on my mind was to, again, _run away._ The path under me moved almost like a treadmill under my feet.

I heard a roar behind me. In all honesty, I shouldn't have peeked over my shoulder.

The feline soldier pounced on me. They gave me no chance of fighting back. When they wrestled me to the ground, they stood back up, dangling me in the air by my clothes just as Bowser did a day ago.

"You wuss," they said. "Put up a fight next time." They carried me like a saggy bag back to New Crumbleden's gates.

I was dropped face-first into the dirt. Tears burst from my ducts. The silencer spell put on me muffled my sniffling; I barely made a peep. Just how many more times would I break down like this?

Although, why didn't I cry so much before these past few days? I could feel the tension in my body drain away. All of that pain, all of that suffering, all those thoughts about Mario, and how I wouldn't be able to get him back at this rate…

Why did I let him into my life? I wasted all that time warming up to him just for him to be ripped away. Before that, why did I even choose to suffer day after day for years on end after all of Robert's abuse and my mom choosing to stay with him? As it stood, I was worth nothing back in my world. I never made any real plans for what I would do if I graduated from high school.

Who was I before she met Mario? A sad excuse for a human being who should have never been born out of wedlock, given how often Robert called her a bastard? What did Mario's death turn her into? An impulsive idiot stupidly grieving for a man she barely knew for a few weeks? _P_ _athetic._

I squeezed my eyes closed. What was I doing? Why wouldn't these terrible thoughts leave my head? Did I truly think _that_ negatively of my life, and of Mar? What was wrong with me? What _wasn't_ wrong with me? _Why did I continue to live if I didn't have an inherent purpose aside from being used as a pawn in Ludwig's scheme?_

The guards pulled me through New Crumbleden's gates. Whoever I was, she would be meeting the woman who put an end to what could have been a golden age, both for the kingdom and for Mario. Given who she was, this stupid-ass prisoner may never leave the town's walls. And maybe that stupid-ass prisoner would be better off that way.

* * *

 **If I said anything remotely good about college before, I'm now regretting it. My frustration over it might have leaked into this chapter, so I apologize if it came off as too angsty toward the end. Maybe I can get around to fixing it when I'm not feeling as upset and get some more sleep.**

 **As said last time, I tend to write responses to reviews on r/fanfiction's Talkback Thursday. But since I know everyone may not want to go on a mission to find out what I said about certain reviews, I've decided to put any and all responses both on here and on Reddit.**

 **Any thoughts on the story and/or chapter would be appreciated.**

 **GitS**


	34. Into the Town

There happened to be a second gate into the town hiding behind the first. Its wooden doors were barred shut. Walls of gray brick spread out from it in opposite directions until they connected with the barriers that marked the town's borders.

The guards standing in one of two dimly-lit watchtowers watched our group come to the next gate with their beady black eyes. I counted four of them. Two of them wore hooded parkas. The other two wore armor over their bodies and little limbs. All of them had white caps with spots on their heads. _Toads._

One toad in a parka withdrew his arms into his watchtower when he saw us all coming. He slowly reached over to his left.

His friend glanced his way. He shuffled over.

The guards, Ludwig, and I stopped at the towers. The one holding me relaxed her grip.

The wyvern guard flapped his wings and took to the air. "Open the gates!" he called to them. He next said to his partner, "Celine, I'll fly ahead and inform the queen's court of our visitors. You should take them the rest of the way there."

So the cat finally got a name. Celine nodded after the wyvern.

He flew off.

The toads didn't gaze at me now. They became more interested in the koopa next to me.

"No way," one of them said in a familiar-sounding squeaky voice. "Ludwig?"

The koopaling crossed his arms. "Yes," he said.

"I believe my friend told you to _open the gates?"_ Celine said. "You know what's coming if you disobey his orders."

A toad ducked from view. The other threw his arms over the wall.

"So," he said, "how's the Darklands these days? We never hear from you guys."

"It's none of your business," Ludwig said.

"What's the deal with that prisoner?" he asked.

"None of your business," Celine repeated. "The gates should have opened already."

The toad glanced over his shoulder. "Toadrick's saying that the lever won't budge," he said. He put up a finger to stop Celine, who opened her mouth, from commenting. A moment later, he also said, "It froze over again."

"Let me take a crack at it," she said, walking forward. "You wimpy little funguses may never get that thing to dislodge from the ice."

"Yes, captain," the toad said.

She climbed her way up the tower. She pulled at an object that I assumed to be the lever. It didn't move, so she put her entire weight into it.

"Darn it," she hissed. "Sometimes I really hate this weather."

Ludwig walked up next to me. He kept a claw on my arm.

Celine tried pulling the lever again. She grunted. Her fur bristled. She let out a louder hiss.

He cleared his throat. He almost yanked me forward.

She looked over the edge. "What do you want, koopaling?" she said.

"We have a firebender," he said. "Have her melt the ice."

"You want me to risk being burnt to death by a Crumbledenian's worst nightmare?" she said. "No thank you."

One of the unseeable toads spoke up. "I think using fire on it is a great idea!"

"No, it's not!" Celine shouted back.

Ludwig went up to the watchtower. His wand flashed a light in my direction.

"I've unmuted your voice," he said, "Melt the ice and I'll allow you to speak again _and_ have a different handcuffing spell cast on you so that you can use your hands."

"What about my power?" I said. An immense relief rolled over me when I heard the sounds properly coming out of my mouth.

"The new band I'll conjure will still prevent it from manifesting."

I shook my head. Why would I agree to that?

He pointed his wand at my face. "Do you think I'm giving you a choice, kid?" he said. "I'll make sure you lose another one of your precious lives if you try to flee. Oh, and if I recall right, and unless you haven't suffered some terrible accident in the past, you currently have two more chances to live. That's what everyone, including the star children, starts out with."

 _Two lives left._ I couldn't die on this hill today. I needed to cooperate with him.

"Alright," I said, turning around so that Ludwig could see my arms hiding behind my bookbag. "It's your fault if I get mauled up there."

He chuckled at this. His wand shot another light at me.

My arms fell limply to my sides with a tingly feeling to them. I nearly smirked when one of my hands flared up. It felt so _warm,_ so _familiar…_ So _me._

I made my way up the watchtower. The ceiling was high enough to accommodate Celine's towering height. I had no trouble slipping into the room behind her.

A toad turned around. He gasped.

"Fire!" he yelled. "She's on fire!"

Celine spun around. "What is it—" She stopped when I came up to her. She cringed at the light I held up to her face.

"Get out of the way," I told her. "I've got this."

She let out a low growl. She stepped to the side.

I found the small lever that they mentioned buried under a layer of thick, white ice. I wrapped my flaming hands around it.

"She's a pyromage?" a toad squealed.

That sounded a lot better than "firebender". I didn't comment on it, however.

The ice sheet cracked. Water dribbled into my palm.

"I can't believe he let you go," Celine murmured.

"I made a deal with her," Ludwig said. His stomps shook the room. "She is allowed to use her arms as long as she doesn't lash out at anyone. _Again."_

"Are you really sure about this?" Celine said.

Their conversation fell into the back of my mind. The rest of the ice sheet fell from the lever. I reached back down and pulled on it.

The wooden gates below swung open with a loud creak.

One of the toads in a parka hopped on top of a nearby stool. He looked out into the snow. "She did it!" he cried.

The rest of the toads cheered.

"We didn't have to break out the emergency blowtorch!" a toad said. "Yay."

"You _wanted_ to use that thing?" his buddy asked. "The last time somebody tried that, he burnt down the other watchtower! It took us weeks to get it rebuilt."

"Don't forget that he got sent to prison for six months," a third said. "I think he might still be in there."

The toad who previously remarked on the gates spoke up. "Thank you…"

"Sam," I said. "My name is Sam."

He smiled. "Thanks for helping us, Sam," he said. "You have no idea how much we appreciate it."

"Thanks!"

"I wish I could use fire magic."

"Yeah, that would be cool! I wouldn't be late for work if I could heat up my coffee on the way there!"

I don't think I've ever received that much praise for something so simple. My cheeks grew abnormally warm. I stared into the floorboards.

"Too bad the kid's a prisoner," Ludwig said. "You'll never be seeing her again."

"Aw, really?" one of the toads said. "We could use some more of that firepower."

He groaned.

The rest of the toad's friend snickered at the pun.

The old floorboards seemed a whole lot interesting to me than their conversation. I watched a black cuff materialize over my left wrist. I sighed when the warmth of my fire faded away.

"We should get going," Celine said, turning away from the rest of us. "I don't want to keep the Queen waiting."

I don't think she enjoyed that pun either.

* * *

"My Lady?"

"Yes, soldier? Why are you interrupting my court?"

"We have a special guest from the Darklands coming into town. He wishes to meet with you."

She was silent.

"His name is Ludwig von Koopa. He is one of King Bowser's Koopalings."

"Why has he come here?"

"He wishes to reclaim the body of his brother from you. He offers a star child in trade."

There were gasps from all around the room.

The queen leaned forward in her seat. "A star child?" she questioned. "I assume they are one of the six that still live?"

"No. She is a new one. A _firebender."_

She stiffened.

So did the rest of the court.

"Should I let them in?" the guard said.

Her expression darkened. "I will allow it if the star child's powers are properly sealed away when I speak to this Ludwig."

He nodded. "Of course," he said, "Queen Khione."

* * *

The inside of New Crumbleden didn't suffer as the world did outside of its walls, as it seemed. It disappeared the moment it hit the dirt path. The only places I could see it collecting were on top of the rooftops we passed by.

A confusing web of streets opened to my right, while the left side got completely blocked off by buildings. The buildings themselves varied between simple huts to two-story stony structures.

"We're going to be passing through the marketplace," Celine said, walking ahead of me. "Just follow my lead."

I spotted a red roof when I squinted through the snowdrifts. There they were, the five spires of the town's signature castle. I could see flags flying in the breeze from the spires, though it was hard to get a clear look at their colors from where I stood.

We entered the marketplace. The path to the castle would be a straight shot from here if various creatures weren't blocking it by placing their market stalls and selves all over the damn place.

I perked up at the sight of them all. This town used to be called Toad Town, yet I saw how varied the races here were. Small goombas ran between the feet of tall shadowy creatures and humanoids like Celine. Koopa troopas and shy guys overlooked various market stands. One koopa in a chef's hat and clothes stood outside a café labeled in big letters, _TRAILBLAZERS,_ while he yelled after a runaway blue yoshi. He promptly got jumped on by an armor-wearing toad.

The yoshi yelped in surprise and started trying to buck off the guard on his back. Bright yellow wigglers hauling carts of carrots slithered in and out of the crowd that backed away from the incident. The flowers on the wiggler's heads drooped. Sprixies— Wait, sprixies? I looked again at the fairy creatures flying over the wiggler's heads to the struggling yoshi.

It seemed that there was a dozen of every sentient species one could name from Mario's games wandering the giant plaza aside from some of the soldiers you would normally find in Bowser's army. I couldn't help noticing that I was the only human here while my small group zig and zagged through the chaos. Were they not a regular fixture here?

Celine quickly got fed up with pushing through the crowd. "Coming through!" she yelled at them. "Important business here. Get out of the way!"

Everyone around her paused what they were doing to make a path for her. They allowed her to pass with no comments or complaints. Most of them didn't even stop what they were doing when she yelled out her orders aside from move a few feet away from us. They must be used to this.

Or, maybe, they weren't. Not this time. Heads turned when I came up from behind her. Strangers' eyes rolled over me, rolled away, and suddenly came back for a second look.

There were so many eyes. So much whispering. Masses of people looking my way all because I stuck out of the crowd.

Thankfully, and while it's odd that I'm saying I'm glad for it, Ludwig was there to divert the attention from me. When he came down the makeshift road, I heard gasps. The whispers became more hurried and frequent. The yoshi causing a smaller scene trying to get rid of the toad on his back stopped struggling.

Celine, Ludwig, and I broke out of the plaza. The wyvern guard stood at the very end of it. He ushered us with a wing past a third and final gate.

"The Queen is expecting you," he said after shutting the gate behind us. "Head straight for the throne room. Don't expect any mercy from her if you cause trouble." He turned toward me. "Especially _you."_

The guards left without another word.

Princess Peach's former home loomed over my head. I saw a thin layer of blue ice covering the castle's familiar white walls now that I stood mere inches from its front door.

I was moments away from having my freedom truly snatched away. Every fiber of my being internally screamed. I wanted to _do anything_ to prevent me from seeing that bitch who ruined an entire kingdom's future.

The necessary emotions wouldn't come out of me. _All I wanted was to be alone._ If stuff like the shit I've gone through these past forty-eight hours kept on happening, I'll never get the chance to even mourn Mar.

Ludwig stretched his arms. "It's finally time to get my brother back," he said. "Right, Sammy?"

I hung my head. "Yeah, sure. Whatever you say, Ludwig."

* * *

"Who is this?"

Bowser shoved him forward. "Him?" he answered. "He's her accomplice. He distracted me while she went for the warp pipe."

He did it for Sammy. He loved her even if she may never return his affections. Perhaps she saw him as being that shitty of a guy. He really should have been nice to her, beginning from the day they first met in elementary school. He should have let her know, way back when, that he wanted her to be happy. But no. He picked on her because he thought it would be funny.

He should have done this, he should have that, he should have _anything._ Now Sam was long-gone. She valued a dead man far more than him. If one event in his shared past with her were different, would he not be staring down a vampire?

The vampire smiled at him. She made no effort to hide her sharp fangs.

"I had no choice," he said. "She really wanted to get away."

"You went along with it," she said. "It does, technically, make you her accomplice."

He pulled at the magical binds around his wrists. He couldn't die like this! "Please," he whimpered, "I want to go home."

He glanced at Bowser. The king ripped him away from his world the moment he admitted that Sam took off without him. What would these two have of him now?

The vampire slipped her slender fingers under his chin. Her nails latched on tight to his skin.

He gasped.

"What is your name?" the vampire said.

"Dennis," he answered near-instantly.

Her fingers trailed down to his cheek. "I am afraid, Dennis," she said, lowering her voice to a near-whisper, "that you won't be returning home unless you tell me what in the name of the stars she's doing, or—"

She leaned over him. Her mouth opened wide. The fangs within descended on his exposed neck.

Dennis nearly screamed.

The vampire twisted her head at the last second. She hovered over his skin. "Well? Do you want to say anything?"

Even if Sam were a bit stupid for running off, he couldn't betray her. "No," he said.

"I'll be able to feed on a live subject for the first time in months," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "I hope you enjoy this as much as I will."

He felt it. A skin-breaking, life-draining bite. He was going to die here.

The strangest feeling shivered its way through him. His entire body went limp. He unconsciously tilted his neck, which allowed the vampire more room to sink her fangs in.

She giggled. She took a big, audible slurp from his bloodstream.

It didn't hurt? Dennis felt, strangely enough, relaxed with those fangs digging around inside of him. All of his stress wilted away, leaving the tingling sensation of her bite behind. Why had he been so scared of this?

She slurped again. Her hands slid past his shoulders.

He could see Bowser throwing them a strange look right before he stomped away. He didn't care. His mind went blank.

That was how Dennis Bard's old, innocent life came to an end.


	35. Meeting the Queen

The same blue ice covered the walls inside Princess Peach's old castle as they did outside. These walls were otherwise bare besides the occasional gray banner with the head of a black dragon that I passed by.

Beneath my feet rolled a red carpet outlined in gold. My sneakers, which were drenched from kicking through the snow, picked up an abnormal amount of dust from it. I made a face at this. Clearly, Khione didn't care enough to keep her home clean. Which is _gross_ , if you ask me.

I trailed behind Ludwig, who perked up ever since we entered the castle. He held his head high, giving curt nods to any guards that looked his way. There even seemed to be a bounce in his step.

The various creatures that we passed by wore full-body black armor. I eventually gave up trying to read emotions from them, even with their helmets hiding their faces, and kept my head down.

More dirty red carpet rolled by. Hallways seemed to drag on forever. The walls themselves seemed to get narrower with each step I went further down the path. Any windows with curtains were shut tight. It gradually got harder and harder for me to see a thing.

Eventually, I squinted down the path. Nothing seemed to be there but utter darkness.

"We're almost there," Ludwig said. "Just—"

 _"Halt!"_

I snorted when he jumped.

 _"Who goes there!"_ somebody yelled at us.

"Ludwig von Koopa," he answered.

"Ah, yes," they said. "The girl with you is the star child, I presume?"

"Yes," he said.

"Show me her arms. I need to verify that she's properly—"

I lifted my arms. "Here," I said. "Is there anything else you want?"

"A cake and birthday party," they said. "Bring me a glass of your finest beer while you're at it." They snorted. "You restrained her by one cuff?"

"She can't use her star-given powers—"

Ludwig got interrupted by them. "I can sense that. Still…"

Their friend spoke up. "The kid will get a serious beating from the queen if she acts out of line. I wouldn't hesitate to join in the fun myself."

My arms fell to my sides. "Understood."

"Good," they said. "In you go."

The doors swung open at their words, revealing darkness. All I could tell was that the seemingly-endless carpet kept rolling into there.

Ludwig walked on ahead of me with no hesitation. He disappeared into the room.

I held my breath. I shut my eyes. _This was it._ Here we go… I merely had to walk in…

 _"Move it!"_ somebody screeched.

My eyes flew open. I uttered the strangest-sounding squeak. My legs seemingly gained a mind of their own and dragged me into the throne room.

The doors leading into this place slammed shut right behind me. They may have snagged on my backside if I didn't move fast enough.

My fists balled up at my sides. I walked forward. I held my head high. I needed to keep it together.

Faint, bluish lights flickered to life all around me. My eyes darted in a zig-zag pattern to each one that lit up. They bounced up the aisle before going up an incline. By the time I could have been halfway to the steps, the lights jolted to a halt. There was an outline of a chair, perhaps the throne, at the top of the steps, and the thin figure sitting straight up in it.

I marched the rest of the way to the steps, beside Ludwig. The two of us watched how the person on the throne shifted in the faint light.

And then… Th-then…

"You must be the star child. The new seventh."

There she was, walking right between the glow of the blue lights. The queen. _Khione._

She had skin the color of a clear midday sky; a light blue. Maybe I could even describe it as being cyan? She wore a white dress with a bunch of blue frills. Her hair, tossed over her shoulder in a braid, seemed to be the same color as the dress.

"Are you only going to stand there gaping at me?" she said.

 _"You,"_ I said.

Khione regarded me for a moment. She made her way down the steps. Her footsteps made the strange sound on the stone. Maybe that was because she wore _no shoes?_

"Why, yes," she said. "It is I, the queen. Your continued staring is… Unnerving, if I may put it nicely." She walked right in front of me.

I looked right up at her stone-cold purplish gaze. "It's for a good reason," I said. "You're the one who killed—"

The shape of her shifted. "I was hoping to start our meeting off on the right foot. I suppose that is not the case, what with this being the millionth time that somebody has complained to me about _him."_

My eyes narrowed to slits. "Well," I spat, "aren't you coming off as a bitch already."

I heard gasps. _Tch._ Let them all think what they want. I was going to speak my mind.

"A "bitch", you say?" Khione asked. " _You_ are being the "bitch", if I am to be honest. Do you want me to put an end to you right now?"

Ludwig glared at me. He muttered a similar question in my ear. "Are you _trying_ to get yourself killed?"

"If I had any control over this situation, I would throttle the both of you," I said, matching his voice's low volume. "None of this was what I wanted."

"I should have left the gag on," he said. "You're too angry for your own good."

"Let's cool her down, then."

I turned around.

The sharp blade of a sword thrust down on me. In those split seconds, I saw Khione and the smile on her face. That odd, serene smile.

I gasped. I leaned forward. The sword dug deeper into my chest, penetrating me through the heart.

"Let this be a lesson for you," Khione said. "I don't appreciate those who snap back at me."

A world of endless black swallowed me whole.

* * *

 **I apologize for this short chapter. I'm just putting it out there because I don't know when the next time I'll be updating will be. Some readers might have seen me get upset in my A/Ns or profile before I regretted what I said and deleted them, but this time I mean it.**

 **I'm going to be honest: I'm going through some really serious stuff right now. Just like Sam, I have a "Robert" who negatively affects my daily life. I'm** ** _sick_ ****of them constantly giving me grief over the smallest of things at the wrong moments and how they seem to get away with everything they do. It's such a big problem that I had to stop myself from blowing up on an older man on a train earlier this week when I got vibes of "Robert" from him, and then** ** _today_** **I actually threw things at "Robert" for trying to assert dominance over** ** _a twenty-year-old woman._**

 **So, until further notice, I'm stepping away from writing this fic and looking for help. I'm** ** _serious._** **This shit has gone for** ** _too long._** **If I allow it to continue, somebody may get hurt.**

 **I'm sorry for all of this. I really am. I swear that I'll come back and finish** ** _Seeing Red_** **, but it will not be by the October 1st deadline I set. I just hope that I don't chicken out later and delete this A/N. My mental health should come before this story.**

 **GitS**

* * *

9/22/19: The new cover for this fic was made by MartenTheWarrior over on NaNoWriMo's new website. Let me know what you think about it. And for those curious about any reviews I've responded to on Reddit, you can find me there as Left_Handed_Writer.

That said, any other updates to _Seeing Red_ have been postponed.


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